


we could be royals

by astinaea



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Friendship, HQ Brofest 2018, HQ Brofest Master Tier, Royalty, featherlight angst, iwaizumi hanamaki and matsukawa as original brot3, master fic, slightly open ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-03-28 08:57:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 40,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13900656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astinaea/pseuds/astinaea
Summary: Iwaizumi Hajime wants to be king, but there's a complication. His parents want him to marry before his coronation, but Iwaizumi has never been interested in romance. Luckily, he finds someone who is like him, even more than he first expected.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go!

Years before this story took place, there was a new kingdom being formed; Aoba Johsai, also known as Seijoh.  It was ruled by a king and queen who both originated from long, long lines of royalty, having many generations of kings and queens before them. There was, however, one problem. The kingdom was at war with the neighboring kingdom, and had been for multiple decennia. Most of the people in the kingdom could barely, if not not at all, remember a time before the war.

One day, the king and queen sat down with the king and queen of the neighboring kingdom for a meeting. They hadn’t started the war, had only been forced to take it over from their predecessors and continue it until one side won. They both were getting tired of the worsening state of both the kingdoms, and their soldiers and people were tired as well. It was a generally known thing that no one knew why the war still went on, but no one knew how to stop it.

They made a plan; the king and queen of Seijoh had a son, who was almost of age to take over his father’s crown. The other king and queen had a daughter, who was only slightly younger. They decided they would marry each other, in the hope they’d unite the kingdoms and finally be able to create peace. It would also put the kingdoms in a better financial and more powerful position, and since the other king and queen had been looking for a husband for their daughter anyway, it was decided.

Therefore, not much later, the newly married, new king and queen, Iwaizumi Arata and Chiyo, took over the throne and united the two kingdoms, keeping it under the name Seijoh since that was earlier the bigger kingdom. However, their marriage was not a happy one.

Their parents had loved the idea, but the young prince and princess not so much. They hadn’t wanted the marriage to take place at all, but what their parents wanted was something they couldn’t ignore, as they were the kings and queens at that time. They had both tried to object, but the former kings and queens had pushed through with the wedding anyway. In the end, they begrudgingly accepted, knowing that their marriage was possibly the only thing that could bring an end to the war.

Everyone was happy with the newfound piece the freshly coronated king and queen brought along, but the land was severely damaged and the economy was not in a very good place. Iwaizumi Arata and Chiyo saw this, and realized they were now responsible. Despite their hatred for each other, the two started to work together to help their kingdom back to the wealthy, healthy state it was in before the war started.

That was when things between Arata and Chiyo slowly started to change.

As king, Iwaizumi Arata had only seen his queen’s spirit in how much she liked to show her distaste of him, but now… He started to also find it in things like the way she was always participating as actively as she could in helping their land, their kingdom, their people. She even stopped actively hating him as much as she had before, as much as he knew she (deep, deep down) still did. All just to give their people a feeling of assurance; if they could get along and live in peace together, they all would. It gave people hope that the newfound peace would stay, that uniting the two kingdoms was a good idea, that there really finally was peace.

He quickly (but ever so hesitatingly) began to harbor feelings of admiration for Chiyo, more and more with all the effort she made to help their people. But, he told himself every night, it wasn’t real, it was all only an act. All only for the people, not at all because she really didn’t hate him anymore. He was convinced that would be impossible anyway. He already dreaded the day the people (and their parents) would start demanding offspring, a next in line for the throne.

 _What a pity_ , he sometimes allowed himself to think. But not out loud. Never out loud. He couldn’t. Never.

For the queen, a few things also began to change.  She still strongly disliked the king, but after a few weeks she could no longer deny that he also was somewhat charming. At least, he had his charming points. She couldn’t give in too much. When she kept up her act of not hating him as much as she did, told herself she did, she could finally pay mind to other things again. Things other than why and how much he must also despise her.

And the other way around of course. Ahum.

Then she started noticing how the king would leave the castle more and more, with and sometimes even without guards. The last part, she knew because she’d seen him sneak out in a disguise with her own eyes. They didn’t share a room, she’d refused to, but some of her make-up was missing and when she saw Arata come down the hall with suddenly much lighter eyebrows and when she saw him come down the hall again, much more cautious, with a wig on, she knew for sure he must’ve wanted to get past the guards. That theory was confirmed when she saw him ride through the gates of the castle without any guards.

After a few times of letting it happen, it came to the point where he one time left (and stayed away) for three days, without telling her where he went and not making it seem like he was planning on doing so anytime soon.

She became more and more curious as time passed, but Arata still never said anything about leaving. Especially since he said to others it was for business, and trips around the kingdom for damage evaluation, but since she’d seen him leave multiple times in disguise, she didn’t really believe him.

He didn’t speak much to her at all, actually. Not that she minded, but he was still her husband. In the four months they’d been married, he’d been at the castle for maybe two of those months in total, with how much he was away. He still ruled the kingdom with her, but he kept leaving her alone in this for her foreign and unfamiliar castle in a part of the kingdom that was completely new to her, and didn’t seem to care or think about her at all.

When anyone asked, though, she would vehemently deny to everyone that she was definitely not jealous of whatever it was that took up so much of Arata’s time.

One day, she was done with his secrecy and asked him where he went every time he left, but, same as the advisors, she only got a vague answer about responsibilities in the kingdom, and that the king’s duty laid somewhere outside the castle. And, let’s not forget, a turned back.

While Chiyo was not at all afraid of the king having secret affairs or a relationship of any kind with another woman behind her back. She knew Arata valued his responsibilities as king too much to risk something like that; his role as example for the rest of the kingdom, his constantly calling duties that took too much time to throw away any more time for another woman…

She still did find it suspicious. If only he’d given her a good reason, but he hadn’t. He hadn’t given _anyone_ a good reason. Only excuses. Very pitiful excuses, at that.

About a month later, nearing their 6-month anniversary (not that she was counting, the staff was. She didn’t even love him.) on a nice, warm day, Chiyo decided she’d waited long enough and followed him with a few guards disguised as stable workers. She couldn’t bear the secrecy and mystery anymore. She wasn’t a very patient person in the first place, and staying quiet for so long had worn her out.

So maybe they had never gotten married for love or even free will, and didn’t have any feelings for each other, they were now still betrothed to each other. He wasn’t just the king, he was also her husband, just like she was the queen to _their_ kingdom. She was his responsibility as much as he was hers, and she found he should start living up to it.

Chiyo hadn’t really been expecting to see anything spectacular, hadn’t followed with a prejudice or feeling about what it could be that Arata was going to do so often, but what she saw was certainly not at all what she’d imagined. Or even could’ve come up with.

Arata was kneeling down in the middle of a herd of rowdy, small, dirty-looking children in the middle of a small village about an hour away from the castle. He was hugging them all, one for one, close to his chest, laughing with them, ignoring their grimy, dirty faces and worn-down, muddy clothes, probably not even noticing or not caring how it got his own clothes dirty as well.

He was handing out small packages to them after hugging all of them, patting their heads and talking with all of them. Chiyo assumed the packages were holding small life supplies like food, soap or money. Suddenly she felt like she was intruding. There was a big chance Arata didn’t even know these children personally, but the way he interacted with them felt so familiar, comforting. A bit private, despite all of it happening with more people watching. Chiyo supposed the other people were the children’s caretakers, since the children turned to them once Arata had stood up.

Chiyo didn’t really know what to do with herself as she watched Arata hug the caretakers and ruffle the children’s hair, giving a generous smile and warm hug to everyone, also handing out packages top the caretakers and other kids from the village that cautiously approached from the houses around the them.

The feeling of intruding wasn’t fully gone, but the moment did feel less private now. She finally snapped out of her daze and dared approach him further. He didn’t notice her at first, but when he did he completely stiffened up and turned bright red, immediately scrambling to get to her before she could even start to say something.

“I’m- I- I can explain!” he almost shouted out, and Chiyo had to do her best to hold back a laugh. She didn’t really understand why he was behaving so nervously, but she supposed it was cute. She ignored the looks they were getting from the people around them and put on a stern face.

“Please do explain, yes,” she said. “I’d like to know why you kept ditching me and our responsibilities and never telling me this was what you were doing.” Near the ending, she allowed a small smile and softened her voice.

“I really can explain, I’m so sorry- wait, what?” Arata stammered. “I-  what do you mean?”

Chiyo smiled again. “I meant that if you had just told me, or anyone else for that matter, that this is what you were doing, I’m sure no one would’ve gotten suspicious and followed you out here.”

“You mean you got suspicious and followed me,” Arata said cynically. Chiyo just shrugged. Practically the same thing. It didn’t matter who it was, if it hadn’t been her who followed him she was sure one of his advisors would’ve done so at one point.

“Hm, I guess I did. But don’t be so pissy, it’s not like I’m going to scold you,” Chiyo scoffed. A small frown appeared on Arata’s face.

“I mean it, though. I’m sorry for leaving, but you shouldn’t’ve followed me. It’s not very safe yet on every road.”

“I had guards,” Chiyo simply said, motioning to the men still waiting patiently a few steps behind her.

She just barely caught Arata huffing out a “fine,” but didn’t let him continue.

“Why did you not tell anyone about what you’re doing, and what is it exactly you’re doing. Now.”

Arata scoffed. “Fine, woman. I’ve been travelling through the kingdom a bit, visiting some of the worse off towns and handing out care packages to the people on the streets and the orphanages.” Chiyo almost wanted to smile, but then Arata turned shyer again (and that pissed her off so she forced her smile back, purely out of spite). “I- I know it’s not much, but I couldn’t just- I couldn’t sit back and do nothing, just send money and watch them from inside the castle. I felt like I had to see it up close and offer comfort, other than just money and a ‘good luck’.”

Chiyo felt her heart swell, but she ignored it in favor of frowning and jabbing Arata in the side. Hard. “You baby, you shouldn’t apologize and get nervous about stuff like that. That’s a good thing, and any help is good, doesn’t matter if it’s a lot or just a little.” She looked around at the happy faces of the caretakers and the children, smiling and chatting with each other. “And,” she continued, “I think you’ve done plenty. Good job. You still should explain why you didn’t think it was okay or necessary to tell anyone else. I could’ve helped you.”

Arata didn’t look her in the eyes, but he did look less nervous after her words. He still had some explaining to do, though, and Chiyo waited patiently for it.

“I didn’t think you’d want to spend more time than necessary near me or with me, and I knew the advisors would just tell me they’d take care of things or send someone else to do these things, and I didn’t want that. I wanted to do it myself, show them some sympathy from the one who’s supposed to rule and be there from them, not just someone he sent to do it for him.”

Chiyo was silent for a while. She could understand where he was coming from, and believed him and why he had thought like that, but… Did he really think she’d even want to stay away from him if it was for a cause like this? She might not love him at all, but the strong feelings of hate she’d felt against him had gotten less intense over some time. Their marriage had taken some getting used to, but now that she was, it wasn’t _that_ bad. As long as she could keep her distance at times she wanted it, she was fine.

“I don’t hate you _that_ much, you know,” Chiyo then muttered. “It might seem like it, and I don’t like you at all, I don’t hate you so much I don’t want to help my people together with you. This kingdom, these people are my responsibility as much as they are yours.”

Arata looked relieved. “So… You’re not mad?”

“That’s what you worry about?” Chiyo scoffed. “I’m not mad at you, or about what you’ve done, I’m only a little mad you thought I wouldn’t want to help. And that you didn’t tell me anything. And that you stole my make up.”

At her last words, Arata completely froze. “U-um, I-”

“Save it,” Chiyo interrupted, holding a hand up. “You can’t lie to me, I saw it happen and I saw you leaving the gates with some wig. Where did you get that from, anyway? I don’t have any wigs.”

Arata just stayed frozen and answered almost robotically “I… got it custom made. So no one would know it was me. I didn’t want guards along, I don’t like it and I can fight, I wanted to do this on my own.”

Chiyo sighed. “Of course you would. But let’s just forget all that now, go back to the castle for now and pretend everything before this didn’t happen. We’ll start over with this project and do it properly this time.”

Arata still looked frozen, but a bit more relaxed than before already. “Okay- okay,” he sighed. “That sounds- okay.”

On the way back, Chiyo tried her hardest not to think about everything that had happened that afternoon. About how sweet Arata had looked with those children, about how noble and kind he was for even making all that effort, even bothering to do so much for the people. About how selfless he’d been about his own safety, wanting to do everything on his own. About his body, when she remembered how he’d straightened up when he told her he could fight. She believed it instantly.

But, she didn’t want to think like that. Because married or not, they were not into each other, they did not like each other, they were not interested in each other. They were supposed to be, probably, but Chiyo wasn’t all too sure if she wanted that. Not with Arata, and not just because they were officially married. Plus, Arata probably still hated her. Especially now that she followed him out here, exposed him and then proceeded to scold him even when he was only doing good things.

She swallowed. She supposed she did give him good reasons to hate her. She wasn’t sure if she was happy with that or not.

Next to her, Arata was getting lost in a very similar train of thought. His hate for Chiyo had long ago died down, about two months into their marriage. There was no other option than accept that he’d have to stay with her for the rest of their lives, and he started to look for positive traits and found that there were actually more positive than negative traits. For example, the burning passion she used to show her dislike was not only reserved for him, but also for her duties. It was admirable how much of herself she put into her work and how hard she worked for the things she wanted to be done.

Her face, that was always frowning when turned on him, was way softer and, if he had to admit it, gorgeous when looking at things that did make her happy, like the people of their kingdom and after a good fight.

Because yes, even that was something she was one of a kind in; her fighting talent and style. Not many women in the kingdom knew how to fight, and if they did it was nothing like her at all. Chiyo was fast, and strong, but slippery and incredibly hard to beat. In the beginning he’d found it annoying, felt like it was only another way for her to show her distaste of him on the times she did beat him, but after a while he grew to appreciate it. He admired a woman who could stand up for herself, who was strong and could hold her ground against him (or anyone else, really). Instead of being uncomfortable when she entered the dojo, he looked forward to their sparring sessions, looked forward to her fighting and her victorious expression when she managed to land or block a good hit. He started to crave those moments.

Before he knew it, he was admitting to himself that he’d started to like Chiyo. Who was already his wife. Which was really backward, but still felt wrong. Knowing that Chiyo wouldn’t like him back, saddened him more than he’d expected. They were already married, but it felt like it meant nothing if he was the only one who felt any attraction.

So deep in thought, Arata didn’t notice the small sideway glances Chiyo was shooting him. She hated to admit it, but she was getting worried. The ride back took a little bit over an hour, and they were about three quarters along, but Arata still hadn’t spoken a word. Usually, he wouldn’t shut up for more than a minute (Chiyo wasn’t so sure if she wanted him to be quiet now. It felt unnatural.).

She sighed deeply, once, twice, then turned to him and decided to indulge on her worries.

“Fine,” she snapped, rolling her eyes. _Why was her body doing this? She was just being an ass again, while all she wanted was to know what was wrong. She didn’t blame him for disliking her…_

“Fine, I’ll bite,” she said, friendlier this time. “What are you so caught up in, you’re unusually quiet.”

Arata startled, clearly snapped out of a daze. He blinked a few times, then started to blush slightly. “Um- Uh, I- nothing. Nothing, really. Just thinking.”

Chiyo rolled her eyes again. “Yeah, sure, and this is not suspicious at all. Wow, you’re so good at lying, cleared all my worries at once.”

Arata seemed to startle a bit again. It even looked like his blush was darkening, but Chiyo quickly told herself that was just her imagination. There was nothing for him to blush at.

“You- worried? Why were you worried?”

Oooh. Shit, she hadn’t meant to actually tell him that. “You should know, idiot. Usually you can’t shut up for a second and now you’re not saying a word. You’re a weirdo, but this is weird even for your standards.”

A small smile appeared on Arata’s face, and Chiyo forced back thoughts about how handsome he looked in that moment. It couldn’t mean anything anyway, so why bother thinking about it.

“Well- as I said, I was just thinking some things over. It doesn’t really matter for you, some… personal issues, you could say.”

Chiyo swallowed. In that moment, Arata’s features switched from soft to sad so quickly, she almost didn’t notice. With that sad, wistful look in his eyes, hidden by a cheerful smile, he suddenly looked so old, and Chiyo felt terrible. Whatever it was that made him sad like that, she wanted to take it away. Whatever it would take. She would do anything to never have him look at her with a look _that_ sad ever again.

She stopped herself for a second. What was she thinking? She was his wife, but other than that… He still disliked her, she was sure of it. What other option was there? It had sucked for her as well, but she wouldn’t’ve become queen on her own anyway. If she didn’t marry, she could’ve stayed semi-free as a princess for the rest of her life. It sucked that she was forced to be a queen, but that was what she’d always wanted. She’d wanted to become queen, to have people to lead and rule and take care of. She realized no one had ever asked Arata if he wanted to become king. She herself hadn’t either. She’d just assumed this was all his idea, especially since he was being such an amazing king to their people. But he looked so old, so worn out like this.

What if he hadn’t wanted it at all, in the beginning? What if everything was just a façade, like he was trying to hold up now? What if it wasn’t him, but her who was tying the two of them down? What if he had a woman before her, one he wasn’t allowed to marry? That was common enough, for royals. What if she’d robbed him of his happiness? What if—

She wanted to be the one to make him happy.

It all made sense to her now. She liked Arata. She had hated to be his queen, done everything she could to make his time with her as miserable as possible. But she didn’t want that anymore. Somewhere along, she’d accepted her fate. And now she liked him.

She had to tell him. She _had_ to. Chiyo wasn’t one to keep things and feelings inside, bottled up. This had crept up on her, happened so fast even she didn’t notice. Now it was bubbling inside of her, on the brink of bursting and flowing out and she didn’t want to keep this from Arata, it was about him, he deserved to know-

“You know, the thing I was worried about—Um, you probably won’t like it, but you’ve made it clear that you like cowards even less so I’m trying not to be, and I-” Arata suddenly said, interrupting her train of thought. Phew. That was very close. A bit too close.

“I like you, and I know that’s probably a thing that should happen before you marry but it happened now and I didn’t even know- that’s what I really needed to say. So.” Chiyo said, interrupting Arata in turn.

Oh. Well. Too close indeed. So close that it had slipped out after all.

“Oh,” Arata said, looking ahead at the castle coming closer and closer. “Well, that makes it a lot easier. I like you too.”

And how old he’d looked earlier, with the sad look in his eyes, was completely gone. Instead, he looked relieved and – overjoyed, and so _young_  and happy and it reminded Chiyo that they were both only barely adults, that this was the time things needed to happen, that this was the chance for them to grow further into their roles as king and queen- but together, this time.

“Great,” she said airily as they rode through the gates. “Then let’s start over and date, and see where it goes.”

“I- that’s- Yeah, okay. Let’s do that.”

Chiyo knew what he wanted to say. It was risky. It was a whole other dimension. If this didn’t work out, there was no way they’d part on good terms, with her and Arata’s attitudes. If this didn’t work out, they were doomed to be unlucky for the rest of their lives. They both knew that. But, they also both knew this was an opportunity they couldn’t let go. If this did work out, it would change so many things for the best way possible.

They had to try.

***

In the first few weeks, not much changed. They were still critical on each other, still sometimes glared at each other, still snapped at each other. But, now it was laden with an air of softness. They knew it was meant well, meant to be supportive or joking. Their touches lingered, they shared soft smiles when no one was looking. They talked for hours in the attic with the pretty view, and after a few weeks they kissed for the first time in that same attic. Arata fell faster and faster, until he was completely gone. For Chiyo, it was a bit slower. It took her some time to get comfortable with the shared affection, took her some time to be able to also be affectionate towards Arata without completely shutting down. But Arata was so wonderful and patient, and not much changed, and slowly but surely she felt herself fall in love as well.

Years passed, until they were both 25 years old and they began discussing marrying again.

They both knew they’d approached it the wrong way, years ago, when they still hated each other. This time, they wanted to marry with just the two of them and a priest, fully by their own decision, out of mutual love and want to really, _really_ be together.

And that’s exactly how it happened. It was a small, sweet affair, short and blunt, but so _them._ Even their own parents didn’t know of it.

That’s why they started bugging them about kids, only a year later.  They were under the impression that their children had been happily married for almost seven years, and were wondering why there was no offspring yet. It was a normal thing to start with children two or three years into marriage, and in their opinion, it was long overdue.

That immediately stopped after a few weeks, when Chiyo announced to everyone (Arata as well), that she was pregnant. Arata almost passed out, and everyone was overjoyed. The second Arata realized what Chiyo was telling them, he hugged her close to him, not even trying to deny the tears that were rolling down his cheeks.

During her pregnancy, Arata didn’t let Chiyo out of his sight for more than a minute. He was non-stop nervous, and cautious. Despite not liking to be babied, Chiyo adored the attention and worry Arata was displaying so openly for their unborn child.

The kingdom was also overjoyed, glad to have seen their king and queen do so much good for the kingdom while becoming closer to each other as well. Everyone was delighted to hear a new prince or princess would be joining the royal family soon.

***

A few months later, a little boy was born. They had decided on a name almost at the beginning of Chiyo’s pregnancy, since it was a name Arata had loved for his whole life already. He had always hoped he’d have a son, so he could name him that. Luckily, Chiyo also loved the name, and so their baby boy was called Hajime. Iwaizumi Hajime, crown prince of Aoba Johsai. A boy who was only just born, but already had so many big responsibilities. Chiyo wasn’t worried. She had a feeling he’d do well.

And, as Chiyo expected, that he did. Hajime grew up fast, not the tallest but definitely strong, and adventurous, and with a huge sense of duty. He was responsible, though he took many risks. More often than not, he was outside, climbing trees and catching bugs. Most of those times, he came back with scraped knees and bloody palms, sometimes cuts over his cheeks and fingers. He was rowdy, but not too loud. He was rude sometimes, but never mean, and straight to the point. He knew what he wanted, and how he wanted it, and would give up anything to get it.

Arata sometimes joked he was too much like his mother for his own good.

Partially, that was true. He had his mother’s strong features, dark skin and hair and her green eyes, same as her attitude to people that disrespected her or challenged her. Same as her fighting spirit, her strong will and even stronger heart. Same as her talent for fighting and her strong stance, and her stubbornness. Yes, Hajime really took after his mother.

But, not entirely. He had inherited his father’s broad but somewhat shorter build and his unruly, spiky hair. He had the same kind heart as his father, and the responsibility that came with it. He cared about people and noticed things many other people wouldn’t notice.

Iwaizumi Hajime would truly make a very good king later.

Even though right now, he was only five years old.

***

Iwaizumi Hajime was just exploring the stables, when he heard two young voices shout something after him.

“Oi! Oy, you! Who are you?”

“Yeah, you! What are you doing here?”

Iwaizumi gritted his teeth. Were they challenging him? Were they calling him out? He swiveled around with an angry frown on his face, looking for the culprits. It seemed to be the two tall boys that looked to be around his age, who were leaning against the door posts of the main entrance. They were dressed casually, and since they looked like they were allowed to be in here, Iwaizumi assumed they were the children of stable workers. They both had slightly drooping eyes, one with curly black hair and one with short, light, strawberry blond hair. In this lighting it almost looked pink?

Iwaizumi chose not to dwell on that and stalked towards the boys. Damn it, they were taller than him.

“Were you two born here?” he asked. Damn it, that wasn’t what he’d wanted to say. Ah well, this worked too. Maybe he was older than them, and then he’d be superior in two of three aspects and definitely win.

“Yep, we’re both six,” the tallest with the curly hair drawled. Iwaizumi gritted his teeth again. Damn it.

“Hm. Well, I turn six in two weeks,” he then huffed out, to let them know the difference wasn’t big. Maybe it’d feel a bit less like losing then…?

“Hm. I turned six in January, and he in March. So, we’re older _and_ taller,” the boy with the pink(?) hair said. “Now, tell me why you’re here. Who are you even?”

Iwaizumi huffed. They were being rude to him. Right? Momma usually wasn’t very clear on what was rude or not, but he was sure dad would count this as rude. They were being rude to him.

Iwaizumi didn’t like that.

“You’re being rude to me. I don’t like that. Shut up.”

The boy with curly hair raised his (impressive) eyebrows. “What? We’re not rude. We’re just asking you a question. Answer it.”

“Don’t command me!” Iwaizumi seethed. “You probably aren’t allowed to anyway!”

The boys looked at each other. “What- what are you _talking_ about? We’re not allowed to command anyone. We’re stableworkers, and we literally just told you we’re six years old. In what world are six-year old servants allowed to order anyone around?”

“Well if you say it like that,” Iwaizumi murmured, already feeling less mad. He was right, after all. They were servants, and probably born as that. ”Were you two born here?”

As the two nodded, more of Iwaizumi’s earlier guesses were confirmed. He nodded back, satisfied with himself. “Me too, in the palace,” he told them. He hadn’t met anyone of his age yet, and these two were. If he could befriend them… He didn’t want to grow up _alone!_

“In the palace?” the tallest boy asked. The two shot each other quick looks. “Are you… one of the personal servants?”

“No,” Iwaizumi said in the friendly tone his dad had taught him to use around the officials. ‘It makes you sound a bit more proper and a bit less like your mom when she’s fighting,’ he’d said. Iwaizumi hadn’t really cared about it, and used it when needed. His dad had seemed very glad about that, so that was good. He guessed.

The boys looked at each other again. “Then- who are you?”

“Iwaizumi Hajime, nice to meet you,” Iwaizumi said. They had been kind of rude, but they didn’t know who he was. He didn’t like it when people were rude to him, but he couldn’t say he disliked not being treated like a fragile peace of china for once. Even though it wasn’t intentional. “And what are your names?”

The boys looked at him in shock, then at each other, then back at Iwaizumi.

“Of course we’d piss off the _prince,_ ” the pink-haired one groaned, immediately followed by a “with our stupid luck,” from the curly haired one.

Iwaizumi frowned. “I’m not gonna snitch or anything, don’t worry. What are your names?”

The boys, contrary to their lazy and teasing demeanors of before, now looked a bit nervous. Iwaizumi decided he like that even less than when they were rude to him. Why were people always so nervous around him? Yes, of course, he was the next in line for the throne and he’d be the king later, when he was of age, but that didn’t make him a scary, bad person, right?

The pink haired boy coughed and elbowed the other. “Um- I’m Hanamaki. Hanamaki Takahiro.”

“Matsukawa Issei,“ the other quickly followed.

“Nice to meet you!” Iwaizumi said, smiling. “Sorry I called you rude, do you have anything to do right now?”

“Um- sorry we… Sorry we were rude, and not really, I think? Our parents said we’re too young to do the same tasks as them so we don’t really do anything.” Matsukawa said.

Iwaizumi thought about that for a few seconds. “You don’t- you don’t go to school or anything? Or learn from someone?”

“The older kids do, but they said we’re too stupid,” Hanamaki drawled. He didn’t look too hurt by it, but Iwaizumi already felt himself getting mad.

“Why would they say that, that’s mean. You’re six right, you should be able to go to school right?!”

They shrugged.  “There are only so many seats and books, and the stuff they learn is too hard for us right now.”

Iwaizumi frowned, then thought of something. “Why don’t you just join my lessons, then? I just started, and I’m all alone!”

In just a second, the two looked nervous again. Shaking their heads, they said “no, no, we could never do that! You’re the prince, right?” Iwaizumi nodded. “Then we could never do those things with you, don’t you know that? Mom always told us the servants and the king and queen and- and you should keep our distance. We can’t do that!”

Iwaizumi’s frown grew deeper and he tilted his head, not really understanding it. “Who said that? I don’t have any friends right now, and I wouldn’t mind being friends with servants. What’s so wrong about being a servant, anyway? You have a job, then that’s good, right?”

“Status differences,” Matsukawa mumbled, “or at least, that’s what mom said. We’re too- too low to be around the people with a high status.”

Iwaizumi didn’t like how that sounded. At all. Status differences? What even was that supposed to mean? He didn’t push further, and left the stables.

That evening, when his mom was tucking him in, he asked her. “What are status differences, momma?”

“Who told you about that?” she asked him, drawing back a little to properly look him in the face.

“Two stable boys I met today. They were only sliiiightly older than me but they said they couldn’t play with me because of status differences.”

“Hmm, yes. I don’t like it either, Haji, but it’s protocol between the servants and us. Someone once thought that servants shouldn’t mingle with royals like us, and for some reason that stayed. They serve us, they shouldn’t serve with us.”

She trailed off, looking out of his window to the wing of the where their servants lived.

“I don’t like it,” Hajime blurted out. “I wanted to be friends with them. They were rude to me in the beginning but I liked them.”

Mom turned back to him, smiling warmly. “I know, I know sweetie. That’s good. You’re a good kid. You can be  friends with them, I promise, if they want that too. You can tell them your momma said she didn’t give a shit either.” She paused. “Best don’t use that phrase, but you know what I mean. I think the person who made that rule forgot that the king and queen are serving the kingdom as well.”

“What does that mean?”

“Isn’t it like that? Y’know, Haji, I think me and dad are servants as well, only not for just one person, and with a fancy title. We help everyone in the kingdom, right? We want to take care of everyone, so aren’t we just serving them in return?”

Blinking tiredly, Hajime thought it over a few times. “Yeah,” he then said, feeling a yawn come up. “Yeah, that’s right. We’re no better.”

“Good boy,” mom said, smiling again. “Please remember that, and you’ll be a great king yourself later.”

“That’s gonna take a whooole long time, momma,” Hajime laughed, slowly falling deeper and deeper asleep.

“I know, I know. Take your time,” mom laughed. She kissed him on his forehead. “Good night, little fighter. Love you.”

Hajime crinkled his nose. “You- alw- call m’that. Love you momma.”

Then he was asleep.

***

He didn’t see the boys for a few days, and he told himself not to mind it. After all, before this, he didn’t meet them once in five years. Still, Iwaizumi was disappointed. Maybe they had already forgotten all about him, who knew?

On the fourth day, he spotted Matsukawa with an older woman – his mother?- and in the evening of the fifth day he saw Hanamaki and Matsukawa wander around the stables. As soon as they saw him approach, though, they quickly turned their heads and walked the other way. Iwaizumi didn’t go after them, but it stung. Had he done anything wrong? Had he scared them off, or did they just really not want to be his friends?

After a week had passed, Iwaizumi started to get impatient. If they really didn’t want to play with him, they should just say so, instead of avoiding him and leaving him to run after them and make guesses on why they kept looking the other way! He sometimes saw them together, and instead of angry, it only made him feel sad. Mom had told him to wait a little, but he’d already waited a whole week! A week was a long time, right?!

So, he decided, next time he saw them, he would not let them ignore him again. If they weren’t going to play with him, he at least wanted them to tell him that, instead of running away every time.

So, the next time he spotted the two taller boys, he didn’t take his eyes off them and quickly made his way towards them. Before they could run, he had already reached them, panting loudly from running as hard as he could, all the way.

“Wait!” he yelled. “Why do you keep avoiding me?”

Matsukawa and Hanamaki shot each other nervous looks. “You- you probably shouldn’t be here,” Hanamaki said, already looking for a way to get away again.

“I don’t understand, is it that you don’t want to play with me? ‘Cause if that’s it, just tell me.”

“I- we…” Hanamaki tried. “It’s not that. We only have each other and- another friend would be nice, but we’re..”

“I know you’re servants’ children and I don’t care. Momma said it doesn’t matter, too.”

“You mean- the queen said it doesn’t matter?” Matsukawa asked.

Iwaizumi shook his head. “No, she said someone made those rules a long time ago and they’re stupid. And I can still play with you. If you want to. I- I don’t want to force you, so if you don’t want to you should tell me now.”

They looked at each other again. “I think,” Hanamaki started, a smile breaking out on his face, “I think that if the queen said it doesn’t matter, mom will allow it. If the queen said so… then it’s okay!” Matsukawa nodded, and a smile broke out on Iwaizumi’s face. They also wanted to play with him!

Did this mean he’d just made… friends? His first friends? Iwaizumi didn’t think he’d ever felt this happy. Friends! Kids he could play with when he was bored!

But wait- they still didn’t have lessons.

“Did- do you want to join my lessons from now on, then? It’ll be a lot less boring with someone else there!”

Matsukawa’s smile grew, now as big as Hanamaki’s and Iwaizumi’s own smiles. “Are you sure we could do that? Isn’t that too much? We- can we do that?”

Iwaizumi shrugged. “It’s my teacher. I take those lessons alone, and they’re really cool but super boring. So it’ll be a double favor! You’re making it less boring for me and you’ll get lessons!”

“So cool,” Matsukawa gushed quietly.

Hanamaki snickered. “Of course that’s the part you get excited about, nerd.”

“You’re excited to learn too, Hiro, and you know it!”

“Oh, right!” Hanamaki said, turning back to Iwaizumi. “Now we’re friends you can call me Hiro, if you want. I mean- it’s what he calls me, and he’s my friend, so if you’re my friend you can call me that too.”

Iwaizumi felt like he was floating. Friends! Nicknames, first names! He couldn’t believe this was happening, he was so happy. “Great! Then you can call me Hajime! Or Haji, that’s what momma calls me.”

“Wow,” Hiro whispered. “You hear that Issei? We can call the prince Haji!”

Iwaizumi laughed. “It’s not that special, y’know. I don’t think momma ever called me by my full name. Do you think she forgot?”

Hanamaki and Matsukawa- no, Hiro and Issei- muffled laughter behind their hands. “Haji, she’s- she’s the queen! You can’t just say that!”

“Nah,” Iwaizumi said, shrugging. “She’s really just momma.”

It was silent for a while. “Cool,” Issei then said. “C’mon, Hajime, d’you like the horses?”

“I love horses! You guys are going to work in the stables later?” Iwaizumi asked.

Hanamaki nodded. “It’s either that or in the gardens. They’re nice, but it’s too hard work and the plants don’t even do anything back. You can at least play with the horses, or ride them and stuff. Better than plants.”

Iwaizumi agreed wholeheartedly. “I agree, horses are really cool. I’m so jealous you will get to be with them all the time later…”

“But you’ll be _king,_ you could do anything, right?” Hanamaki asked.

Iwaizumi shook his head. “Daddy is king, but he’s often really busy. Momma just makes up a lot of excuses to stay with me during the day. Dad is often only with us on the evenings.”

He saw Hiro and Issei were looking at him with pity, and he quickly smiled at them. “It’s okay though! It doesn’t matter, really. Dad’s really nice and he tries to be with us as much as often, and sometimes he’s too busy, but when he’s free he always plays with me and momma and momma always puts me to bed so it’s not bad.”

“My mom always puts me to bed too, when she’s done with work,” Hanamaki mentions. “She’s with the cooks and sometimes she can take snacks along if they made too much.”

“Dad always puts me to bed ‘cause my mom works in the village and my dad is really fast so he can always leave earlier than the other stable workers,” Matsukawa said proudly.

“Your dad’s in the stables? That’s so cool! Can we go there now?” Iwaizumi asked.

“Why not?” Matsukawa replied, shrugging his shoulders once. “Oh! It’s almost feeding time, maybe we can help them! I sometimes get to help dad and he lets me pet the foals, they’re really cute.”

Excited, the three started on their trip to the stables, where the horses of the royal family and advisors were kept. The foals that were raised were foals of the horses themselves, and would later be trained to be the horses of children of members of the royal family or advisors. Sometimes, they were sold if there were too many and it was a particularly big or sturdy foal. Then, they were transferred and often trained to be the horses of knights, or even sometimes to race, if they were smaller.

Iwaizumi hoped he’d get a horse of his own one day. He could almost see himself ride a big, strong one, in the fields. He hoped he’d get a fast one. Or a really cool one, so he could out-race everyone else.

When they finally reached the stables, Iwaizumi was shocked to see who was inside. After all, his father had been away for three days and wasn’t supposed to be back until tomorrow. Was he going to leave again, or was he maybe back early?

Iwaizumi didn’t even notice the tall, broad stable worker standing next to his dad’s horse. He didn’t notice the way his eyes widened, and his expression quickly turned from shock, to rage, to embarrassment and shame, as well as guilt. He also didn’t notice the boys beside him stiffen, shrink back and look to the ground in a mixture of awe, shame and fear. No, he only saw his dad. He was back!

“Dad!” Iwaizumi exclaimed, running towards him. At the exclamation, he turned around and as soon as he saw his son running towards him, a big smile grew on his face. Iwaizumi Arata crouched down and opened his arms just in time for Hajime to run straight into them and hug his father tightly to him. “Daddy, I missed you!”

“Missed you too, my little fighter. Guess what, I’m back early!” Arata said happily, squeezing his son once more before standing back up. “Matsukawa, could you take care of my horse? I’d like to go greet my wife and be with my family for a little while.”

The man, who Iwaizumi only noticed now, nodded. Matsukawa? _Then this must be Issei’s dad_ , Iwaizumi thought excitedly.

That excitement quickly diminished when he noticed the grim expression on the face of the man. A worried feeling crept up on Iwaizumi, and that only grew when he looked at his two new friends. They looked… almost sad? At least not very happy, and having seen them smile and talk happily just minutes ago, Iwaizumi decided he did not like that look on them at all. Something was wrong, and he wanted to fix it.

“Issei, Takahiro. I thought we set a few rules, and they were not very hard. You didn’t listen, both of you, to the most important rule; stay away from the prince. I get that you’d want to be friends, but you are both not in the position, so why did you go and talk with his Highness anyway?” Iwaizumi heard the older Matsukawa mumble. He sounded angry, and his words pissed Iwaizumi off. It sounded like he thought Issei and Hiro were _lower_ than him, just because he was a prince and they were servants.

A frown settled between his eyebrows, and he was about to step forward to clear it up. He wanted to yell at the man, tell him it wasn’t their fault. He’d been lonely, he had convinced them to play with him. His momma had said it was alright, so why was Matsukawa’s dad so mad about it?

A revelation struck Iwaizumi like lightning. He didn’t know momma had said that it was okay! Iwaizumi had only told Issei and Hiro, after all. He turned to his dad.

“Daddy, is he mad ‘cause I’m a prince? I asked momma, and she said it was fine for me to be their friend. Oh, and she also said it was a stupid rule and that the distance between servants and us is also stupid!”

“Did she say it with those words exactly?” Arata asked. He knew very well how his wife got over issues like this, and he was furiously praying she didn’t curse in front of their son about it.

Iwaizumi shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, I don’t remember. Can you please do something about it? ‘Cause I want to be friends with Issei and Hiro, and they can learn with me!”

Arata thought it over. He knew how lonely Hajime could get on the rainy days, where the servants and his teacher usually forced him to stay inside, and he doubted it would be bad for him to have a few friends of his age.

And so, he addressed Matsukawa. “There seems to be an issue, Matsukawa, but don’t worry. My wife and I have both given full permission for interactions between the servants and us. We both have the opinion that the law is outdated, and we think it would be great for Hajime to have some friends close to his age. If your boys also want to be his friend, of course.”

The older Matsukawa looked conflicted. He wasn’t used to this. Usually, the royals and advisors just gave him his orders, and he did his job, and they let him be, but it seemed the new king was keen on changing that.

He couldn’t say it sounded like a bad idea.

“Fine,” he finally decided, giving in to his king and the three pairs of puppy eyes focused on him. It wasn’t like he could deny the order of his king, but this wasn’t an order, and if it was something all three boys really wanted… What kind of father (and non-biological Uncle, of Takahiro) would he be to deny them of something as pure and innocent as friendship?

At the agreement, the three boys let out a loud cheer. Arata smiled. “I know this is not at all like the usual for you, but I genuinely think it would be good to get at least some of that awful formal distance out of the way. There’s no need for that, and I intend to stay on good terms with the people who take care of my family when I can’t.”

Matsukawa couldn’t stop a small smile of his own, at that. after all, of course it was that simple. The servants took care of everything the king and queen couldn’t look after, and in turn they received a home, food and money from them. That was just a general business relationship, right?

Well, not really, but-

“I can see you’re overthinking it,” the king said, laughing heartily, “there’s no need for that. Go take care of my horse and let the boy play together, it’s all fine.” Then he walked back with a guard, who’d waited at the doors of the stables, back towards his family’s wing of the castle.

“You- your Highness- No, I- Well, you heard him. Go play!” the older Matsukawa stammered. Issei beamed up at him.

“Thanks dad!” he exclaimed, and then the boys went running.

 

A few weeks later, after Hajime’s sixth birthday had passed, Takahiro and Issei joined Hajime for their first lesson. They had quite a few struggles in the beginning, since they had only managed to learn a few letters on the off chances they were allowed in the servant’s lessons. But, in a few months’ time, they were all caught up with Hajime, who, to be honest, had never gotten very far with studying either. He rather played outside, chasing insects and climbing trees than study in a stuffy room with a teacher who only told him about his future responsibilities.

A few months later, just after the new year, Takahiro and Issei knew more than any of the other servant children their age, having the ability to learn much faster. They were only in a class with three people, after all.

Hajime didn’t make friends with any of the other servants. He was content with Issei and Takahiro, and seeing how close the two were and how close Hajime had gotten to them over the time they were friends, it felt wrong to add another person to their little group.

Then, Takahiro turned seven. He teased Issei and Hajime nonstop with their age, pestering them about being just babies and making jokes like “When I was your age…”

Hajime was almost scared to see how he would grow up. He knew it was a kind of egocentric thought, but he hoped with all his heart that someone else would be the victim of the pranks and jokes he was bound to pull.

The teasing only got worse when Issei’s birthday passed. After all, Hajime wasn’t only the youngest by over three months, but also the smallest. At Issei’s birthday, the height difference was 5 centimeters with both Issei and Takahiro, and Hajime was afraid that wasn’t going to get any smaller either. If anything, only bigger. After all, his parents both weren’t that tall either, both never growing taller than 180 centimeters. Hajime doubted he’d get any taller than that, too.

When Hajime finally joined Issei and Takahiro as a seven-year old, it was summer, and the insects were out again. Thanks to the studying, Hajime hadn’t gotten to hunt many, last year. He was set on taking Issei and Takahiro with him.

Here, he thought triumphantically, here he could at least beat them. He knew Issei and Takahiro had grown up like him, always playing around outside and climbing one of the big trees that grew around the garden his parents loved so much. Whenever they went there, Hajime joined them. There were good trees to climb in inside the garden, but there was a part that was too far away from the castle for the servants to keep an eye on, so without his parents he wasn’t allowed there. Coincidentally, that was also the part of the garden where the highest trees grew. He’d climbed them before.

Issei and Takahiro hadn’t. And these trees were far higher than the others in the garden. Also, this were the trees were the prettiest butterflies and the largest beetles lived.

Issei and Takahiro didn’t know that.

Hajime was sure to win this.

And win, he did. Issei and Takahiro were still sometimes under the impression that Hajime was raised in a very guarded environment, but actually he didn’t grow up much different from them. He got more education, he was taught how to be proper and polite and he sometimes had to attend official banquets with his parents, but other than that Hajime had grown up just like any other boy in the village.

Also, they thought that because they were taller, they’d be better at climbing trees, but Hajime proved to be a lot faster than them. They didn’t differ that much, but Hajime was still smaller and thus faster. He was also stronger, more athletic. Issei and Takahiro both had a lanky feel to them, Hajime was way sturdier. And to top it all off, in the years Hajime had been actively hunting and collecting beetles and other insects, he’d learned the best places to find them, and he easily found the biggest insects there were in the garden.

Issei and Takahiro were better than Hajime in a lot of other things, though, not counting age and height. They learned a lot easier than Hajime, so with their lessons they usually remembered the material a lot better. Hajime wasn’t good at sitting still. He liked his stuff hands on, not inside in a stuffy room with stuffy books and a stuffy teacher.

Hajime was young when he was taught how to be proper and polite, but he was truly too much like his mother to really pay a lot of attention to that. he tried! He really, honestly tried his best, but, same as his mother, he sometimes slipped up. contrary to that, Issei and Takahiro had learned the basic etiquette rules in a few weeks. Hajime had been allowed to invite them along for a party that wasn’t very important, his mom said, and he’d get bored otherwise.

Issei and Takahiro, despite never having been in company as high in status before, somehow managed to seem like angels. Daily, they were sneaky, played pranks on everyone and make bad jokes only they (and about half of the time Hajime as well) could understand, and he’d heard mom call them ‘little shits’ before, but at the party they were dressed up as neatly as Hajime, spoke with two words, didn’t play any pranks….

They did watch everyone very closely, though. Many, many new inside jokes followed that day. Hajime could only agree.

And like that, the years passed, and they grew up quite peacefully together.

At least, that was until Hajime’s 10th birthday, when he had to start with his lessons about the history of both kingdoms, and how he should apply that history to the present. What the history meant for the state the kingdom was in now. What that history and this present would mean for Hajime’s future, and the future of the kingdom.

The future in which Hajime would be king, and Takahiro and Issei would have to go back to being his servants.

Hajime furiously promised them he’d never forget them, or anything about them, every day. Takahiro was a bit skeptical in the beginning, but Issei had convinced him that this, all of this, was worth it. They’d stay friends, or at least try their hardest to do that.

They managed perfectly for two more years. Then, at Hajime’s 12th birthday, he met the foal that would be trained from then on. For Hajime. His horse.

The horse his best friends would have to take care of for him in the future.

Takahiro turned distant again. This time, it took more effort to convince him, and Hajime actually didn’t see or speak with him for several weeks. He didn’t even show up for their lessons, which was something he would usually never skip. Takahiro pretended he didn’t, but Hajime knew he loved to learn. To have Takahiro feel as bad as to even abandon his lessons, and Issei along with him, hurt Hajime a lot more than the actual silence.

Hajime decided to leave them to think about the matter for a while. This wasn’t something he could change, and they needed to fully realize that. Hajime couldn’t say he liked it, and he terribly missed the two boys’ presences as permanent fixture in the castle, but he realized he would also have to deal with that. If Hajime’s title put them off, he’d have to accept that he couldn’t force them to be his friends still. He’d have to wait until (if) they came around.

Hajime had never had great patience.

Luckily, after those few weeks, knocking sounded on his bedroom door. When he opened it, Takahiro and Issei immediately came barreling inside and hugged him. They usually didn’t show affection that much, and Hajime appreciated the gesture.

They were sorry for leaving him for so long, and they still wanted to be friends. They also promised each other, also Hajime, that if something like this came up again, they’d still stay friends. They knew they all wanted it. They all knew it was possible.

And so, the three stayed together, as inseparable as they’d been when their friendship started, years before.


	2. Chapter 2

Issei and Takahiro had been acting weird-ish, and Hajime was getting slightly tired of it. There was something going on, and he was not informed. He didn’t like not knowing what was going on.

Takahiro and Issei were not both 15, and Hajime’s birthday was coming closer. In the three years after their short separation, the three had only grown closer. So close, that they were able to speak informally with the king and queen, and the two saw the boys almost as their own sons. After all, even though they wanted to, they hadn’t been able to have more children after Hajime.

Through the years, there of course had been the two occasions where Hajime, Takahiro and Issei were harshly reminded of their differences, and they had fallen out of touch for a short while on those two occasions, but apart from those, they hadn’t had any fights or anything.

Hajime had been catching Issei and Takahiro together, whispering among each other. Now, that wasn’t very unusual, but the nervous glances they constantly shot around them were. Usually, the two were shameless in their antics, just doing what they wanted, as long as it didn’t get out of hand. No one bothered correcting them, because they didn’t mean anything badly and never hurt anyone. In short, Hajime didn’t understand why they were acting like that. Especially since, whenever he came too close, they sprang apart and pretended like they hadn’t looked like they’d been sharing long-hidden family secrets behind his back just seconds before.

Hajime had let them do their thing for a few weeks, but he was getting quite tired of it. Like stated before, Hajime didn’t like not being informed. He didn’t like now knowing what was happening around him, especially if it had to do with his friends.

It always seemed like Takahiro and Issei were two halves of one person, and that Hajime was very different than them, but honestly there were more similarities then visible to the eye. Hajime was just as curious as them, he just straight-out asked for the truth instead of bending in three different ways to weasel the truth out of someone like Hiro and Issei liked to do. Or sneak and snoop around until they knew, for that matter. Hajime seemed like the responsible one, but in all truth, Issei was. Hiro could get pissy and start sassing people, and Hajime could have a rather short temper, but Issei always kept a cool head. Hajime had about the same humor as them, though he showed it differently.

It wasn’t just Hiro and Issei, with Hajime to the side. It was Hiro, Hajime and Issei, the three of them together through everything that came onto their path (or whatever they pulled onto it, for the sake of it).

So why were they behaving like this? Hajime didn’t have a clue. He wished he did. He usually was good at finding out the truth, but he knew he was a little bit dense. Could be, at least. Sometimes. But, if even he noticed something was up, it had to be bad. It was a little bit different to ask his parents’ advisors for the truth in his usual blunt manner, than ask his best friends like that.

He did it anyway.

“You two have been weird,” he grunted out one evening after sparring practice. They were also learning fighting together, now that most of the actual lessons were finished. Or at least, almost finished. Here, on the sand in the fighting ring, Hajime proved superior. Finally something else than _catching bugs._

“Weird?” Takahiro asked nonchalantly. Hajime could tell he was trying to evade the question that was bound to come. Hajime wouldn’t let him.

“Yeah, you two have been secretive and whispery together and you’re behaving even weirder than usual.”

Issei snickered. “Rude,” he then said. “You say that like we’re always weird.”

“Strange, sometimes. Yeah, can’t really deny that,” Hajime said, giving in to the attempt of distracting him from the topic for a little while.

“I’m serious though,” he added after a moment of silence. “There’s something going on, I’m out of the loop and I don’t like it. Tell me.”

It was silent for a bit longer. “Beautifully blunt as ever,” Takahiro then said, chuckling, but it sounded off. Hajime knew he’d hit home.

“Tell me,” he said again, a bit louder this time. He didn’t even care what it was, he just wanted to know the truth. If it was a bad thing, they’d deal with that later. For now, he just didn’t want to be excluded from this little thing between them any longer.

“Fine,” Hiro sighed, “I knew we wouldn’t be able to avoid it anyway. Kinda shitty that you’re so stupid with other people but not with us.”

“Ten years of nonstop being together kind of ruins that, asshole. Spill. I’m tired of being patient.”

Issei and Takahiro sat up straight, and Hajime realized it was a serious issue to them. He sat up as well. “It’s a- well, it’s not all that important, really, but not very traditional. I guess,” Hiro started.

“Hiro, avoiding it is no use. Haji, we both realized we aren’t straight like two weeks ago, sorry we didn’t tell you sooner but we had to figure out some issues. Like on how to tell you, and… stuff,” Issei interjected.

Hajime wasn’t sure what to say at first, so he just sat there, letting the words sink in. “So you don’t like girls. That’s how that stuff works, right?”

“Basically,” Hiro said shrugging. He sounded nervous.

“And why was telling me one of the issues? Is there anything wrong with not liking girls?” Hajime asked, a bit confusedly. They were both looking at him expectantly, but he didn’t know what exactly they wanted. What was he supposed to say when someone told him something like this?

“Well some people don’t accept it,” Hiro grumbled, and looked away.

“Oh,” Hajime said. “Well, that’s stupid. Do what you want. It’s not like you do that already, anyway.”

Issei looked relieved at that, but Hiro didn’t look fully assured yet.

“We also… started dating. Yesterday. To try it out.”

Oh. Ooh. “So you’re boyfriends?”

Issei nodded. “I didn’t know you two liked each other,” Hajime thought out loud.

“You’ve always been a bit dense,” Takahiro teased, but was met with a slap on the back of his head from Issei.

“To be fair,” Issei said, glaring lightly at Takahiro, “we didn’t notice anything either, but it clicked. I guess. It’s weird.”

“Oh. Okay,” Hajime said, laying back again. He was glad they’d told him. He didn’t care at all. As long as they were happy.

“I- I promise we’ll stay the three of us,” Takahiro said. Hajime closed his eyes and smiled.

“That’s fine. I know we will.”

At the rustling of the grass, he felt and heard Takahiro and Issei also lay back down. It was silent for a while, and Hajime had almost fallen asleep when a voice shook him awake again.

“Thank you.”

It was Issei. “Don’t be stupid,” Hajime said, stubbornly closing his eyes again. “And don’t thank me for something as stupid as that.”

“Eloquent,” Takahiro teased, also sounding like he was already half asleep.

“Sleep, stupid,” Hajime mumbled, and then he was gone.

***

Their relationship had maybe started on a whim, and to try things out with the whole liking-men thing, but in the following years, Issei and Takahiro stayed together. Their friendship didn’t falter at all, and Hajime was happy for them as he was able to witness his two best friends fall in love with each other, more and more each and every day.

As the years passed, Hajime also had a few revelations.

No matter how much seeing Issei and Takahiro so in love secretly made him happy, he couldn’t imagine himself in their place at all. As they started to explore the… more _physical_ parts of a relationship, Hajime couldn’t help but feel a little bit awkward.

At first he thought because it was _them,_ the two boys he’d met as kids, now 18, like Hajime was soon turning. But, as time passed and it was less of a new thing, the awkwardness with the topic stayed. Hajime tried imagining himself with someone, _anyone,_ in a relationship like theirs, but he found he just couldn’t. When he did manage to imagine something, bring up an image, it felt off and weird. Like it just wasn’t supposed to be like that.

That’s when Hajime decided romance was not for him.

It sounded sad, maybe, but Hajime couldn’t say he minded much. Not only did the idea feel uncomfortable to him, it also seemed like too much of a hassle. With Issei and Takahiro, it was different, since they’d known each other for so long. But if he were to get together with someone… it’d have to be with someone he didn’t know at all. And, Hajime couldn’t imagine himself with either Issei or Takahiro either.

So, he decided he wouldn’t do romance. He didn’t like people romantically, and he hadn’t yet felt any physical attraction to anyone either, so he just decided it didn’t matter to him.

It sounded sad, maybe, but Hajime couldn’t say he minded much. Not only did the idea feel uncomfortable to him, it also seemed like too much of a hassle. With Issei and Takahiro, it was different, since they’d known each other for so long. But if he were to get together with someone… it’d have to be with someone he didn’t know at all. And, Hajime couldn’t imagine himself with either Issei or Takahiro either.

So, he decided he wouldn’t do romance. He didn’t like people romantically, and he hadn’t yet felt any physical attraction to anyone either, so he just decided it didn’t matter to him.

A few days after ‘realizing’ it, he told Issei and Takahiro. They didn’t even blink an eye, and gave him a term for it. ‘Asexual’, they called it. Hajime didn’t really care. Not when the two people (aside from his parents) he cared the most about didn’t make a hassle. He wouldn’t either. Terms didn’t matter to him.

He was a little bit worried about what his parents would say. Hajime already knew that if he wanted to be king, which he really, really did want, he’d have to marry. He didn’t want to tell them just yet, but decided he’d leave that to the future Hajime, when it _would_ matter.

Now, Hajime rather worried about future Iwaizumi’s duties. Specifically, his duties as caretaker of the kingdom. He had to serve his people, but everything seemed to be going well. When they went on visits to the villages, there never seemed to be much poverty. But, Hajime decided, that was exactly the problem.

He didn’t believe it.

No matter how much he didn’t want the people to only know wealth and happiness, he knew that wasn’t possible. Poverty was something that was, and proved to always be, something unavoidable. In every town there were homeless people, people who had less money than others. In every town there were people the other villagers neglected, maybe even hated. In every town there were stray dogs, and orphans. That was, sadly enough, just how the world worked. However, Hajime also knew his people. Maybe he wasn’t king yet, but he knew enough. The people of Aoba Johsai were stubborn, and proud. If things were going badly, there was no way they’d ask for help by themselves.

Hajime didn’t want them to live in poverty, but they didn’t say anything, if they were. He paid extra attention to the people further back, when they were in a parade or big banquet. There were always people who looked uneasy or squeamish in their company. There were always people with less good clothes, and houses that looked like they were fixed in a hurry.

Hajime was afraid his people were making everything look better than it was, when his parents, their advisors and he himself visited them. Like the villagers, days before they came, quickly fixed their houses and gave the homeless people a bath and a new set of clothes.

Hajime had been brooding on something for a while, now. A little plan of his own, to travel around the kingdom and see the villagers in their daily lives. To see them how they lived when there weren’t fancy parades and luxurious banquets and happy, cheerful people. He would have to find something to disguise himself with, and then he’d visit various villages closer and further away from the castle and the capital. He wouldn’t be able to go with anyone else. If he brought guards along, he’d surely be recognized, disguise or not.

It was dangerous, he knew that very well. Extremely dangerous. If he was found out, he was busted. Dead. Or whatever else. But Hajime couldn’t imagine the outcome being anything positive.

It was dangerous, but he wanted to do it. No, scratch that. He _needed_ to do this. It was of utmost importance. If he wanted to rule his country well, in the future, he’d have to know his people and their living situations as well as possible. He didn’t want to trust stories and parties. He wanted to see the _real_ thing. Raw, uncovered poverty and misery. He wouldn’t like it, but he had to see it in order to truly know what to do about it.

Also, he needed to start as soon as possible. Once he was king, all of his (few) chances at actually pulling this off would be gone. This was his chance, and he’d be damned if he didn’t take it.

He couldn’t tell anyone about it. His parents would never allow him to go, especially not alone. Telling the guards and advisors would be even more stupid. He couldn’t even tell Issei and Takahiro. They couldn’t do much to actually stop him, but they’d disapprove, and they would want to come along.

Hajime thought that was the absolute worst option. He couldn’t take Issei and Hiro along, no matter how much they (and he) would want to. It was too dangerous. It already was, but it was easier to travel alone, if you wanted to stay unseen. He was a better fighter than them. Sure, Issei was an amazing shooter, and Takahiro was terrifying with his throwing knives, but in hand to hand combat, Hajime was clearly better. In close combat, they weren’t very strong. (Hajime was okay at shooting with a bow and arrow and throwing knives, but he had to admit that at that field of expertise, Issei and Takahiro were better than him).

Sure, they would, or could, be useful, and nice company, but he couldn’t risk it. If something happened to him, he’d be gone. Done. But, if something, _anything,_ happened to any of them, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.

No, it was really better to go alone. He had no idea when and how, though. It should be easy enough to sneak out, he figured, but where would he ever get a disguise effective enough to hide his (remarkably strong) features?

(Thanks, mom.)

***

Hajime was starting to lose hope of finding a decent wig. As a last resort, he had started rummaging through his parents’ old belongings in the lower storage rooms. That’s when he found _it._

It was a blond, shoulder length wig. Hajime had no idea when and how it got there, and who it belonged to, but he almost couldn’t believe his luck. This was his chance of getting away, and staying unknown.

He took the wig with him and dashed back up to his room, storing it on his desk and hoping he wouldn’t forget to try it on soon. He now had work to do.

 

Pulling on the custom uniform the stable workers wore felt less new than it probably should feel for the crown prince of a mighty kingdom. He lived in hideous luxury, and was probably also supposed to dress like it as the prince, but Hajime had never liked the stuffy, satin clothes much. They were too tight and itchy. He didn’t like them. He wore the stable workers’ clothes a lot more often than the clothes he wore on formal events. Putting it on felt like a regular thing he did almost every day. especially since he’d gotten his parents to get him an uniform in his specific size. It were his own clothes.

The wig, glaring at him from its position on his desk, wasn’t so usual. It made him nervous. It made the entire situation so much more real and pressing, and he was kind of scared to actually put it on.

How did that even work?

After quite some struggles and putting it on backwards once, he finally got the wig right. The person looking back at him from his mirror was… Safe to say, a really scary mixture of Iwaizumi Hajime and someone else entirely. His face was undeniably his own, but everything else screamed servant. The wig changed more than he had expected it to, and less at the same time. It was confusing him. He needed to figure out how to fix his face, but there was no way he’d resort to stealing (borrowing? Did taking and using it for the greater good count as stealing?) his mother’s make up. Especially because the wig was okay, he could figure that out, but make up….

That was another territory entirely, and way too unfamiliar. Hajime liked exploring, but he was a figure of habit. He liked exploring new areas, new possibilities, new people… but this was going a bit far. His face was still just _that,_ after all. It was complicated.

 

An hour later, the Iwaizumi Hajime he’d seen earlier was gone. He was more weak than he thought he was, apparently.

His eyebrows were now less big, and considerably lighter than they were before. The shoulder length hair of the wig was pulled away from his face, into a little ponytail. It was better, when the hair wasn’t in his face. He didn’t understand how girls did that.

He still had one slight issue though; his eyes. Thanks to his mother originally not being from Aoba Johsai, he didn’t have the same dark brown eye color that was extremely common in the kingdom. Instead, he had inherited his mother’s green eyes. Dark, deep green with a tint of gold in it.

He took after his mother, after all.

He usually loved it. He loved his dad, but he still couldn’t help but feel closer to his mom. Maybe it was because they were so similar, maybe it was because she’d been the one who was around the most when he grew up. Hajime didn’t know.

What he did know, was that in this situation, taking after his mother was a bit unfortunate. Not only his eyes were uncommon, his facial features in general were slightly off, seemed foreign compared to those of people of pure Aoba Johsai heritage. Nowadays, more and more mixed kids were born, but someone of his age was extremely rare and would definitely catch some eyes.

He needed to hide his eye-color. And what better way to do that was there than simply wearing a hat.

Luckily, he found, Takahiro often wore a cap to protect the very fair skin on his face from burning in summer, when they spent most of their time outside. And it couldn’t be that hard to get his hands on that cap, now that the weather had started to get colder again.

Suddenly, there was knocking on his door. With the speed of light, Hajime pulled off the wig, wiped the lighter powder off his eyebrows and threw his mother’s things, including the wig, in the ridge behind his bed.

Issei and Takahiro entered the room, just after Hajime had sat down on his bed, trying to look as innocent as he could without just looking suspicious.

“You ready?” Issei asked, gesturing at his boots. “Our plan is still up, right?”

Issei, Takahiro and Hajime often went riding, to spar in the woods, just for fun. Sometimes they went to the lake and took a swim, or simply sat there, away from the crowds and the always busy and bustling city and castle. The trips were little getaways, since Hajime usually wasn’t a very big fan of crowded places. Nor too much attention, which he was sure to get at the castle, as the crown prince.

Now, however, he wasn’t so sure if he wanted to go on a ride. It was still early, and if there was anything he wanted to do now, it was immediately start traveling and visit some of the closer villages.

“I’m not sure,” he started carefully, racking his brain for an excuse to not raise too much suspicion. “We already went yesterday, didn’t we?”

Hiro snorted unattractively. “Yeah, and the day before that, and the day before. That’s never stopped you before. Why are you in those clothes if you’re not planning to go out?”

Oh. Right, he knew he’d forgotten something. Somehow, he’d managed to ruin this for himself without even saying the wrong thing. He needed to come up with an excuse, and fast.

“I know, I know,” he said, stalling. “But I’m… I can’t keep avoiding this place, and everything and everyone here. At some point, I won’t be able to back out so easily.”

 _Yes. Good. Pull that card, that should be fairly believable._ Hiro and Issei both knew Hajime strongly valued duty and his responsibilities, and thought often about his future, how he’d rule later and how he could do his job in the best ways. If he didn’t mess up now, they’d maybe leave him alone and then he could travel. Then, he wouldn’t even have been lying. It was all to prepare for the future, after all.

Issei pulled up one eyebrow. “Did something happen for you to get like this? Usually this stuff doesn’t strike until nighttime, right?”

Hajime scoffed, but he couldn’t hide a small laugh. “Can’t really control it, it hits when it hits. It’s just… time doesn’t slow down, you know. The coronation and everything… it won’t wait until I’m ready. I have to make sure I’m prepared by then. Now that I’m 18, it’s only 3 more years. I’m getting closer and closer, and I just can’t help but feel like it’s time to start preparing.”

Issei and Hiro hummed something unintelligible. “Are you okay?” Hiro asked, softer this time. “Like- did someone say something?”

Hajime smiled, shook his head and sent a small prayer upwards to whoever was up there for letting him choose this subject as excuse, and not something entirely stupid like ‘oh I’m not feeling well’. After all, Hajime was almost never sick, and when he was he wasn’t even able to get out of bed.

“Nah, I’m fine,” he said. “I just- Yeah, I think I’ll go speak with mom today, maybe… maybe study a bit more. We’re not done with classes yet, remember?”

Hiro groaned. “I’m trying _not_ to remember, please don’t remind me for at least another two weeks.”

“But… our final tests are in three,” Hajime said, frowning. “I thought you liked studying.”

“No,” Takahiro said, “I like _learning._ Studying sucks, and I want to do as little of it as I can afford.”

Hajime shrugged. “Your call, I don’t care. What are you going to do, will you two still go on a ride?”

“Probably,” Issei said, slightly apologetically. Hajime didn’t like to be excluded, and they knew that. Issei was probably waiting for Hajime’s okay. He smiled. Hiro and Issei often pretended they were rude assholes, but Hajime knew they cared.

“It’s totally fine, just go without me. It’s my own decision, after all.”

Hiro nodded, a grateful look on his face. “Yeah, we’ll do that.”

Takahiro and Issei shared a look, and nodded at each other. “Good luck,” Hiro called over his shoulder, and then the two were gone. Hajime could hear them talk quietly together, but they quickly were out of hearing distance. Once they were, Hajime let out a loud sigh. With how hastily he’d thrown the wig away, a few wisps of blond hair sticking out from behind his bed. If they’d looked around more, they could’ve easily seen it and then he would have been caught before he even started.

Now, though, they were gone and didn’t suspect a thing. he hoped. Hajime decided he’d wait one more hour, and then he’d leave. He wouldn’t have much time today, but he would start small, at small villages close to the capital, no more than a 30-minute ride away. If he spent about one hour in every village, he would be able to check out three before his parents wanted him back for dinnertime. They had asked him to be on time for today, saying they had something to ask of him.

 

Roughly an hour later, Hajime was saddling his horse, Nika. She was the foal he’d received for his 12th birthday, and he’d been able to ride her for about four years now. The trainers hadn’t wanted Hajime to ride her when she was still young, since she could be pretty spirited, but Hajime had objected. He couldn’t gain her trust the way he wanted to if he didn’t let her grow up alongside him. In the end, he’d even been able to convince the trainers to let him help them train her, and it had proven fruitful. The two trusted each other blindly now, and no one knew Nika better than Hajime.

He suppressed his nerves and nodded lightly at the guards, praying they wouldn’t recognize his horse. They didn’t even spare him a second glance, and let them through. Hajime didn’t dare feel relieved, though. Anything could still happen, and he would not risk jinxing anything.

He took the road that passed the capital, not wanting to lose too much time riding through it, seeing as that would take far longer than needed. The other road went through the woods, which maybe wasn’t the best idea alone, but it won him a lot of time.

Twenty minutes later, he was almost through the woods, and felt all the relief he had felt just minutes ago, when he met not a single person on the road, leave him. Someone was riding behind him, and it wasn’t trying to be very careful. Either this person was harmless, or extremely dangerous. They could be a merchant, or a very strong person who had no doubts about being stronger than Hajime.

It was probably just someone who was passing by, just like him, but when you were the crown prince, in disguise or not, and all by yourself, you had to be careful and always expect the worst.

The sounds of hooves only got louder and louder, and bracing himself, Hajime mentally prepared himself for the chance the person was indeed following him.

A measly ten seconds later, a man sitting on an old, rickety cart, pulled along by a mule. On the cart were a few burlap sacks, full with what seemed to be corn. The man bowed his head at Hajime, and Hajime returned the gesture. It was slightly surprising, to not have someone bow deeply before him, but of course this man didn’t know who he was.

The thought was comforting to Hajime. First of all because this meant his disguise was good enough to keep his real identity hidden, and second because now he was truly an equal to everyone else. He couldn’t say he disliked the feeling. Of course, he was disguised as a stable worker, but it was visible that he was one of the king’s servants, which still put him slightly above other servants, but he was just a _servant_ now, to everyone else. He kind of liked it.

Deep in thought, he almost didn’t notice a second pair of hooves coming closer on the road. It came from behind him, and was a lot more discreet than the previous. Immediately, Hajime was on guard again. Was that sound coming from his left, hidden in the midst of the trees, also the sound of a pair of hooves, or was he getting paranoid now?

The hooves from behind him got closer, but stayed as silent as they were when Hajime first heard them. This was suspicious. Hajime unwillingly tensed up, but forced himself to not appear too nervous. If the person behind- and possibly next- to him were really following him and had malicious intent, Hajime couldn’t appear nervous or tense. That would only give them more power over him, and Hajime needed to stay calm so he could think clear if something were to happen.

And so, Hajime continued in the same tempo as before, keeping his eyes on the road ahead of him, not at all bothered by the sounds of hooves behind and next to him – yes, there was also definitely someone somewhere among the trees.

At least, that’s how he made it seem. In his head, Hajime was making up all kinds of possible scenarios, playing them out. At the same time, his eyes darted from left to right, trying to spot movement hidden in the forest, his ears straining to hear if the sounds were getting closer or further away.

Then, in a flurry of movement, there were two men with horses on the road. One next to him, and one in front of him. Hajime cursed under his breath and halted Nika, muscles tense. He could feel that Nika was tense as well, ready to run when the opportunity came. Then she relaxed and softly whinnied at the horses. What-

Takahiro and Issei.

They must’ve not believed his story, after all, and followed him. Or maybe they saw someone leave on Nika and thought he was stealing her, or going on a ride without permission. No one else but Hajime himself was allowed to ride Nika, after all.

And his second theory proved to be true. “Who are you and what are you doing with that horse?” Takahiro asked sharply. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around the stables. Fess up.”

Hajime almost smiled. Seemed like Hiro was able to be intimidating, after all. He felt Issei’s eyes burning on his face, and the comfortable way he was sat on Nika. It felt like he was looking straight through the disguise, and he probably was.

He quickly thought it over, going over the possible outcomes. Hiro and Issei were loyal. They wouldn’t let this go, even if he came up with an amazing excuse. They’d want to keep an eye on him and still follow him, to keep check of Nika. They knew how dear Nika was to Hajime, and would do anything to keep Nika in one piece with them, when Hajime wasn’t here. Or so they thought.

He debated just telling them. They would want to come with him, which wasn’t what he had planned at all. He didn’t want to put them in a dangerous situation. He knew this was a situation that could very easily become exactly that. He knew they were loyal and wouldn’t let him do this alone, and company would be nice, but…

He sighed and carefully took off the wig. They’d find out sooner or later anyway. They were crafty, Hajime was sure they’d find a way.

“It’s me. I’m going on a little trip, and whether you’re coming with me or not, I’m going,” he said with conviction.

“Haji,” Issei simply said. “Are you stupid? Put that thing back on.”

He did, and Hiro shook his head with a smile. “Where did you even get that, and why are you doing this?” He looked at Hajime quizzically, and then quickly followed it up with “that’s a pretty good disguise, better keep it on. You can explain yourself on the way.”

Hajime smiled. He knew it. Then he made a decision; he’d enjoy their company on this trip, and all the others that he was sure were to come. If there was a dangerous situation, it was probably better to not be alone, and if things really got bad, Hajime would defend them with everything he had. He would give anything to keep them safe. They could do this.

They resumed their trip, and Hajime explained his plans to them as well as he could.

“That’s insane,” Hiro said as soon as he was done, “but so you. I wouldn’t have expected anything else from you.”

Hajime wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not, so he just ignored it and shrugged. “I just need to do this if I want to be a good king myself, later. I know it’s dangerous, but we’ll be fine. If you want to stay with me, that is.”

“Of course,” Hiro said without missing a beat.

“It’s kind of exciting,” Issei said. “The rides we did before were nice, but now we’re actually exploring. And without any guards or restrictions. I think it’s nice.”

When they entered the first town, Hajime felt some nerves coming up. What if they recognized him? This wasn’t where they usually went on trips, but they were still fairly  close to the castle. What would they do if someone called him out? How were they going to do this, at all? He hadn’t thought this over enough.

Hajime wanted to hit himself. He was again jumping into things without properly thinking them over, his active nature taking over again. He liked _doing_ things, not thinking about them. He was afraid it was going to bite him in the behind, this time.

A hand slapped at his back. “Your disguise is great, ace. Now that those huge eyebrows are covered, no one is going to recognize you. You’ll be fine,” Hiro said quietly.

Hajime swallowed, and nodded.

“We might need to come up with an alternate name, though. Can’t really call you Hajime in there,” Issei said.

Shit. Another thing he’d forgotten.

“Let’s keep it simple,” Issei continued. “Not too different, easy to remember. What about something like… Izuno?”

Izuno. Simple enough, and it sounded close enough to his own name. He could remember that. “Izuno is good,” he said, only barely managing to keep his voice from cracking.

“Don’t be too nervous,” Hiro said. “People will notice if you’re wound so tight. Just relax. You’re like us, like them, and you’re just going to travel through. No one will care, and we can take a look around in peace.”

Hajime nodded. “Thanks, guys. I.. I really didn’t think this through.”

“That’s what we’re for,” Issei said dismissively, and Hajime smiled.

 

The town, it looked like, wasn’t doing all too bad. The houses were mostly okay, a few a bit older. On the way through, Hajime only saw 2 stray dogs and no homeless people. He remembered something about a program that offered support for homeless people, a few years back. This must be one of the towns in the program.

In the next, things were even better. Hajime knew this was one of the richer towns, it’s fertile fields bringing the town a lot of money. There was basically no poverty to be seen, and Hajime reasoned it was because everyone had jobs. There was more than enough work to be found on the fields.

The third was doing no worse, and Hajime felt his morale and confidence drop. This was of course good news, but all the risk he took and the trip felt a little bit useless now, and Hajime felt guilty for being stupid enough to make Issei and Hiro feel the need to come along too.

As if they could read his thoughts, Hiro and Issei looked over at Hajime and slapped him on the back. “Good news, hm?” Issei said cheerfully (or, as cheerfully as he could sound). Hiro nodded. “We know we won’t have to come back here again, right? We can focus on all other towns now.”

Hajime still felt a bit ashamed, but nodded. After all, he couldn’t deny that they were right. He didn’t want to admit it out loud, but they _were._ This had already given them some closure, some towns they could take off their list.

For a few months, they kept making trips like these, about twice a month. Every time, they tried stretching the time they were away a little further. When no one seemed bothered by their disappearances, they stayed away longer, one time even a whole day. No one noticed.

Everyone seemed really busy with other things, and Hajime didn’t trust it. What everyone was so bothered by, he would find out about a year after their trips. Hajime was 19 now, same as Issei and Takahiro. First, he thought it was because for him, the age where he’d be ‘ready’ for the throne was coming closer, but he still found it weird. It was too early to worry about that, right? Didn’t they have another one and a half years before they needed to start worrying about that?

“Son,” his father said, one night, and Hajime had a gut feeling that this was the moment it had all been about. He was proven right by his father’s following words.

“Son, we’ve been thinking for a while about some things, and… We decided it’d be best to tell you now, so you have enough time to prepare for it. _Properly_ prepare for it, not like us. Because, you know, you’ll need to marry a woman before you become king. A good king always has a good queen by his side to support and guide him. Your mother and I never got a good chance to prepare ourselves for that, and we’ve told you how it was at first. We _hated_ each other, and it took us a long time to properly get over that.”

“You’re taking too long, Arata,” his mother interrupted, also having entered the room. She sat down next to Hajime and looked him in the eye. “We want you to start looking for a good woman, preferably a princess. We know like no other how important time to get used to each other is, and we want the best for you.”

Then she looked away and glared at Hajime’s dad. “That’s how you do it, idiot. Don’t beat around the bush.”

“Sure, sure,” Arata responded with a smile. “But, do you understand, Hajime? We understand if you don’t like it, but you’ll be happy we warned you early on later. I think.”

Hajime needed a moment to process this. Right. He hadn’t told anyone but Issei and Hiro about his… issues. His ‘not liking people in a romantic way’ issues. Now, he needed to find a woman. One he would have to fall in love with, one he would have to marry, one who would be by his side for the rest of their lives.

One who would have to bring the kingdom offspring, new heirs for the throne.

He couldn’t. He couldn’t- not that. He would do anything for the kingdom, but marrying… The only possibility was faking love, but even then there would be so many things to figure out, think about, fix…

He couldn’t do this. Hajime knew he couldn’t, but he had to.

“Hey, hey,” he heard a vague voice call out to him. “Breathe, sweetie. Stay with me. Breathe.”

Breathe. Right. He didn’t even notice he’d stopped. He tried, and after a few attempts he felt a big gulp of air enter his lungs.

“I can’t- mom, dad, I _can’t-_ ” he wheezed. His voice sounded off, low and breathy, not his own. What was going on?

“Shit, I was afraid this would happen,” Chiyo said. “Sweetheart, it doesn’t have to happen right now. There’s no pressure, sweetie. None at all. We just wanted to inform you early on, so it won’t be that much of a shock when it does matter.”

“I can’t, you don’t get it, momma,” Hajime breathed out, and he felt something wet and hot on his cheek. “ _I can’t._ ”

Chiyo held him close, and Hajime cried. She only vaguely understood why, but she still cradled him to her chest like he was a baby again. Hajime let her, gave himself this moment to let out all his feelings. Then, later, he could pretend like it didn’t rip a hole in his chest and squeeze his heart.

How could he ever get out of this?

***

When Hajime saw his father steadfastly make his way towards him, his mother in tow, he sighed. He already knew what this was about, already knew what they were going to say, what they wanted from him.

His time was getting closer and closer, only one year left until his coronation. He still hadn’t found a woman. Hadn’t even looked. He’d only been trying to ignore his future coming closer and closer, looming over him.

He still hadn’t been able to come up with a way to get out of the entire situation without escaping the kingdom and the throne altogether, and that was something he’d never, ever be able to do. He just didn’t want to marry. Not ever, and especially not some stuck up princess from who knows where.

He loved his parents, really, but after the terrible, terrible day of the first time they told him, he’d been avoiding them more and more, using his trips with Issei and Hiro as a getaway. His parents were busy, and that gave them the chance to sometimes stay away for multiple days now, getting closer and closer to the edges of the kingdom.

After that first trip, and the two after, they quickly realized there was a ring of richer villages around the capital, and the further outward they went, the worse the situation became. Closer to the border, it was better again, because trade was better there. Hajime already had a long (and ever growing) list of problems he’d solve once he was king.

If only he could put his own on that list. But, sadly enough, he couldn’t. As of now, his problem was the only thing keeping him from becoming king, after all.

He couldn’t tell anyone.

“I don’t want to marry,” he said once his parents came in hearing distance.

“Oh, hello, Haji, good morning to you too,” Chiyo said in a sarcastic, but somehow scolding tone. “I thought we learned you to not jump to comclusions?”

“We have a… well, a peace offering of some sort, I think. It’s advantageous for both you and us.”

“We have decided to not put any restrictions on the person you choose to marry,” Chiyo said, interrupting Arata. “It’s probably already hard enough to pick a nice one with so many restrictions, so- pick anyone. Servants, princesses, a homeless woman, whoever you think will be able to lead the kingdom well beside you.”

“Why not men?” Hajime said before he could stop himself. “You keep saying woman.”

Arata looked surprised, but quickly schooled his expression. “Well, if he’s _good…_ and if the people don’t make a big deal out of it… Then I suppose that should be fine. Since when do you like men?”

“I don’t,” Hajime said gruffly. Why had he said that? Being able to have a man beside him didn’t change anything for him. “I just- I really don’t want to marry, okay? I don’t like men and I don’t like women. I can’t.”

Chiyo looked at him with pity in her eyes, not even bothering to mask it. “Sweetheart, I hated everyone. And look how your dad and me are right now. It’s scary, probably, but you’ll be fine. I know you. I trust in you. You _can_ do this.”

“You’re not _listening,_ ” Hajime mumbled, but put on a smile anyway. This was not something he could get out of, he’d already realized that. He just… really, really didn’t want to.

He also knew he was being difficult. He wasn’t an annoying, rebelling teen. Not anymore, at least. He didn’t want to be difficult. But this situation… it was already difficult by itself. Hajime couldn’t help but follow.

Hajime sighed. He wanted this to be out of his hands already. He knew he would never be able to choose someone himself. Then he made a decision.

“Then… then I ask of you to pick suitable people for me. Men, women, I don’t care. Someone who you think will be right for me. Or, at least right for the kingdom’s future and wellbeing.”

He refused to look at his parents. Refused to look at their happy, relieved expressions. He wasn’t giving up, just… giving in. A little. There was no escaping this. This would be the easiest way to just get done with it, but still do what he needed to do. He still hadn’t agreed to marriage itself, but he’d given his parents an opportunity to do this for him.

He hoped it’d be enough.

When his parents finally walked back to wherever they came from, Hajime quickly made his way over to Issei’s and Hiro’s room. After they turned 18, they were still together and had somehow managed to fix a room for the two of them, so they could kind of live together. Well, not really, but this was the closest they could get. They might be Hajime’s best and childhood friends, but they were still stable workers. Servants.

Hajime had managed to convince his parents to make the two his personal servants, though, so now it was even almost allowed for them to go on trips without other servants. (Guards. Same difference, right?)

“You look stressed,” Hiro said the second Hajime entered the room.

“Even more wound up than usual,” Issei added.

“Well, that’s probably because I feel like shit right now,” Hajime groaned as he let himself fall down on their bed, effectively crushing Hiro’s legs. “I did someth- I basically gave them permission to find me a bride.”

It was silent for a while. “Oh,” Issei then said silently.

Hajime didn’t say anything. Issei and Hiro didn’t either.

After a few minutes of silence, Hiro wriggled his legs out from underneath Hajime’s body and threw the bedsheets aside. Hajime was met with a naked Hiro, and a half naked Issei. This wasn’t the first time, though, so he just closed his eyes and groaned. “Tell me when you’re covered up, you shit.”

Hajime heard some rustling and stumbling footsteps. “Done,” Hiro said. “Issei too, don’t worry. We’re going on a trip, right now. C’mon, get up. We’ll be away for a while.”

Hajime smiled into the sheets. They knew him too well.

Half an hour later, they were on their way. They’d done this so often, they knew very well how to prepare in a short time. By now, they only needed a few minutes to grab spare underwear and grab some of (their own, don’t worry) money, get Hajime’s disguise ready (but keeping it hidden. They’d decided it was a better idea to put it on somewhere in the woods, where they had more privacy) and saddle their horses. This time, they would be staying away for only two days.

They had discovered a small village, right next to a larger one about two hours away from the capital. They hadn’t seen it the first few times, and when they visited the larger village next to it, they hadn’t seen the smaller village at all, nor heard anything about it. They’d visit it now, and have some fun somewhere in the woods, probably, on the second day.

The way there was peaceful, with only a few farmers meeting them on the way. Hajime had learned to not get too happy too soon, though. The village was located right in the middle of the poorer part of the kingdom, and Hajime was already bracing himself for the bad conditions he didn’t doubt he’d be seeing.

When they arrived at the village, though, things were shockingly not as bad as Hajime had expected. There were of course a few houses somewhat further away from the center that were in bad conditions, but closer to the center, things seemed to be pretty good.

In the village’s center, they were met with a growing and growing commotion. There weren’t all that many people, considering the village was a very small one, but the streets were small and people were pushing each other to get closer to the spectacle.

What _was_ spectacle?

Was there a bard? A storyteller? A market, maybe? An auction? Even from his place on Nika, above the pushing villagers, he couldn’t see. The crowd was too thick, he couldn’t make out anything.

He nodded at Issei and Hiro, and they nodded back. That was a sign they’d come up with for situations like these; to check if his disguise was still good to go when there were lots of people around. Then they got off their horses, taking them by the reigns and continuing  on foot, the horses following close behind them.

“Excuse me,” Hajime- no, _Izuno-_ said, tapping the man who stood the closest to him on the shoulder. ”What’s going on, is there a market, or maybe a storyteller?”

The man looked at him for a few seconds. Then he snorted quite unattractively. “A market, maybe. Depends on who’s up for it. You could definitely call the kid a storyteller. He’s insane, I tell ya. Don’t listen to his crap. Take that solid advice. Too many visitors have been tricked by him already.”

“A thief?” Hiro asked.

“Not really, just a fool. The town’s weirdo, if you wanna.”

Hajime frowned. Of course. It was all too good to be true, he should’ve known. He wasn’t so sure anymore if he wanted to know what was going on in the middle of the commotion.

“Don’t get too close, y’all. He’s just some pretty boy who’s got a lot of stuff wired wrong up there. There’s a lot better things we got to offer. Don’t even bother with the weirdo- Oikawa something, was his name.”

Oikawa. Hajime tilted his head. Wired wrong.. what was that supposed to mean? Why was this man warning them for him? This was making him more curious than he wanted it to. Mentally, he cursed his own nature and thoughts. This was not the time.

Then he stilled. Of course it was the time.

Why else would he even come here, if he was just going to ignore this situation?

“Uh-oh,” Hiro said. “I know that look, Izuno, and I don’t like it. Quit it.”

“Lay low,” Issei hissed from his other side. “You remember the agreement, right? After the incident from last year, we decided we’d lay low as much as possible. You’re not laying low right now.”

Hajime nodded. He would. He’d be careful with what he did.  He was a very good fighter, maybe even one of the best, but they still shouldn’t take any risks. He had more authority than all these people _combined,_ but he couldn’t use it. Not when he was in his disguise. When he was in his disguise, he wasn’t important at all. Just like everyone around him. Now, he had no higher authority than anyone else in this town. He had to act casual.

The villager turned to him again. “Where you from? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you lot here before.”

“Ah, no, we’re just passing through,” Hiro quickly said. “We haven’t been here before.”

At Takahiro’s tone, the man knew they didn’t want to talk about it, but he didn’t seem to care as he shrugged. A wicked smile formed on his face. “You better stay for this, though. It’s a bit disgustin’, that boy, but he’s funny. As long as you don’t let him get too close, he probably has fleas or somethin’. Stupid kid lets himself get kicked around for some yucky orphan girl. I think he was an orphan himself too, I don’t really know. Don’t really care either, he’s a bastard anyway. The things he says sometimes are hella funny.”

Hajime’s frown grew. This sounded bad. Very bad. Not at all like something Hajime would tolerate.

He had to get a closer look, now. If he could do something about it, even if it was only temporary, he had to. This wasn’t okay.

He stepped forward and ignored the panicked and tired calls of “Izuno, what are you doing?” from Hiro and Issei.

“He’s an adventurous one, isn’t he?” Hajime heard the villager laugh, but he didn’t wait to hear Issei’s and Hiro’s reply. It would probably be something like “a bit too much” anyway.

Oikawa. He needed to know more about this, both the situation and the boy called Oikawa and his ‘yucky orphan girl’. He had to.

Hajime was lucky; the crowd parted when he, Issei and Hiro quickly following, came through. Must be the horses. Oh, and probably the king’s emblem on their saddles and shirts. Ah well, as long as no one knew he was Iwaizumi Hajime, or as they probably knew him, prince Hajime, they were fine.

When they got to the center of the commotion, Hiro and Issei halting next to him, either on one side, they were shocked with what they saw.

A muscular man stepped away, granting them the sight of a figure half-laying, half-sitting on the ground. Iwaizumi cursed under his breath. The person was a tall, young man, about the same age as Hajime, Issei and Takahiro. Barely an adult. On his legs was an impossibly small skirt, that was no doubt forced on him. The thing only barely reached his mid thigh.

People around him were stepping out to force him upright, helping him stand up but barely offering him support to keep standing. It was obviously hard for him to do so, knees almost buckling twice. His entire body was shaking.

Hajime cursed again. Fuck. What the fuck was this? Why was this happening? Were these people sick? Why was no one stopping this?

When he stood, Hajime could see the man was tall, taller than him. probably not taller than Issei, though. He had (dirty and knotted) brown, tousled hair and light brown eyes. There was blood coming out of a small wound on his eyebrow, and his arms were littered with bruises.

He was glaring with a look that could kill at everyone gathered around him.

Hiro let out a weak laugh. “He’s not… in the best condition, I’d say. What the fuck did he do to them to be treated like this?” Hajime just cursed again. Issei was still speechless, staring at the spectacle with big eyes.

“I don’t even want to know,” Hajime growled out. “Fuck. What the fuck is wrong with these people?”

He turned around, getting the attention of a woman standing nearby. “How long has this been going on?“

The woman startled. “Me? You mean Oikawa Tooru? Oh, a few years I guess. Since he came here and completely blew it, in all senses of the word.”

Iwaizumi pulled up an eyebrow and turned back to the front, not even bothering to thank the woman for answering him. Hiro jabbed an elbow in his ribs. “Lay _low,_ how many times do we have to tell you?”

Due to his turning away, Hajime missed what the men in the circle had asked Oikawa, but his arms were being held behind his back and he spat out “Why would I do that for you?”

Hajime felt giddy at the fire in Oikawa’s eyes. Years, and he still had fighting spirit. It made him happy. ‘Come on, fight him!’ he wanted to yell. He kept his mouth shut.

 _Do something_ , he couldn’t stop thinking. He wasn’t all too sure if that was aimed at Oikawa or at himself. Probably a little bit of both.

“Because I said so, you bastard,” the man said, obviously angry at Oikawa’s response. Then he spit in Oikawa’s face.

Issei’s hand found its way onto Hajime’s shoulder, grounding him. It was to hold him down, keep him from stepping in and doing something stupid, Hajime knew that. He still quickly shrugged it off. This whole situation was worse than he ever could’ve imagined. This was inhumane.

A round of laughter and murmurs went through the crowd. “Such a useless boy,” he heard the woman he’d talked to earlier say. Another woman behind him hummed in agreement. “I mean, look at him. He maybe has a pretty face but no job, no family or friends, no money and obviously no dignity either. He’s just doing nothing!”

“True,” the voice of a younger boy now said, “he really has no sense of masculinity or a man’s pride. He’s such an embarrassment to this town.”

“Always ruins everything for himself too,” the first woman said again. “Every single important traveler that comes here, gets mugged by the bastard. He’s always around stealing things.”

“Or worse, begging,” the boy’s voice said. “Really, it’d be such an improvement if he was just… y’know, _gone._ ”

In front of him Oikawa received a kick to the back of his knees, forcing him down again. He immediately fell not only to his knees, but into a tiny, hurt puddle of a person. Hajime didn’t even want to know how often this happened or how long this had already been going before Hajime, Issei and Hiro arrived.

He then remembered the villager’s words. _“Stupid kid lets himself get kicked around for some yucky orphan girl._ _I think he was an orphan himself too.”_ That meant he was letting all this happen to him, just to defend and protect someone else in the same situation as him.

This town was crazy. It wasn’t Oikawa Tooru who was the town’s idiot, it was the people of the town themselves.

Hajime was the crown prince, for fuck’s sake. He could have all these people imprisoned with one command. He had more power than anyone here. Technically speaking, it was so incredibly easy to stop this once and for all!

Issei’s hand found his shoulder again, this time squeezing it tightly. He was tempted to shrug it off again, but didn’t. Issei didn’t have to say anything to make clear to Hajime what he meant with this, and he was right. Hajime hated this, but Issei was right. He was no crown prince here. No one knew him, he had no power. He was a servant, not below or above anyone in this town.

He usually loved the feeling of equality when they were on trips like this, loved that no one had to be respectful to him. Now, he just felt powerless. He wanted to do something, but couldn’t. He hated it. He could still fight, but he wasn’t from here, and while he would probably be able to take on the five men standing over Oikawa, he wouldn’t be able to take on a whole town. As much as he wanted to help Oikawa, he didn’t want to have an entire village against him, not when he was still every single second at such a high risk of being found out. He was powerless.

The men made Oikawa stand up again and pushed him, making him stumble, before pushing him the other way again. This had to be making him lightheaded, Hajime thought. Especially with the condition he was already in.

Oikawa, before the next man could push him back, let himself fall against the man with his full body weight, which couldn’t be very light considering his height. He was skinny, but very tall.

Hajime still didn’t doubt that Oikawa was lighter than him.

The man stumbled backwards and looked frustrated, and Hajime felt a feral grin make its way onto his face. _Yes. Fight. I can’t do it, and I’m sorry for that, but please. Fight back,_

With Oikawa still heavily leaning onto him, the man fell to the ground, Oikawa landing on top of him. “You filthy bastard!” the man yelled angrily, and flipped them around. Oikawa’s head banged on the ground with a sickening thud. He almost immediately fell limp, all the fight from before leaving his body.

His fighting spirit was gone. His power used up, taken from him by those…

Almost in slow-motion, Hajime saw the man sit down to straddle Oikawa, draw back a balled fist.

Before he knew it, Hajime was rushing forwards, leaving Nika with Issei and Hiro, trusting she wouldn’t kick.

Before he knew it, he had the man’s wrist in a vice grip and was pulling him up roughly. The man started to protest, but fell silent at Hajime’s deadly, icy glare, focused on him only.

With an icy voice, barely resembling his own, Hajime bit one sentence at the man.

“I think that’s enough.”


	3. Chapter 3

While Hajime was staring the man down, he barely managed to suppress his surprise at how icy his own voice sounded. It was very, _very_ cold, like burning hot anger, and loaded with hate and disgust. Somewhere behind him, he heard Issei groan, but he paid no mind to it.

“What the- what is this? Who do you think you are, telling me what to do?” the man spat out, obviously not liking how this situation was very quickly turning against him. He looked livid. God, Hajime was really getting fed up now.

The other men were frozen in place, too shocked and surprised to do anything. Hajime didn’t mind it one bit. It gave him some more time to think of a plan, a good and safe(ish) way to go at this.

“Izuno Hiroshi, nice to meet you. Now go, and leave him alone.” Hajime allowed himself a small mental hurray for being able to come up with a first name without hesitating.

“You’re not even from here,” the man growled, steam almost coming out of his ears. “Really, who do you think you are to think you can boss me around like this?”

“Izuno Hiroshi,” Hajime said again, plastering a fake sweet smile on his face. “But I believe I already told you that, didn’t I?”

The other man bared his teeth in an angry grimace and roughly pulled his hand free, never keeping his glare off Hajime. “Don’t try being funny with me, you stupid, lousy _servant._ Don’t think I’m stupid enough to not know that what you’re wearing isn’t just the uniform for a stable boy, _kid._ Don’t even think of playing the hero with me.”

“Why not,” Hajime said, his smile growing even sweeter, but sharper at the same time. He was really starting to get annoyed now. He didn’t show it, but loomed a bit closer to the man. He wasn’t taller than him, quite the opposite actually, but he knew how to appear intimidating and intended to use that knowledge to the fullest. “Who do you think _you_ are, bossing one of the _king’s_ servants, calling him a lousy kid?”

The man didn’t look impressed. Hajime wasn’t worried. “I’m the eldest son of the richest and most influential farmer around,” the man hissed with narrowed eyes. “A servant is a servant. You mean nothing to me.”

“Hmm,” Hajime said, sweetening his smile again. This was the good part. “And how about when I tell you I trained with prince Hajime himself?”

He hadn't, since he himself was Hajime, but the man didn't need to know that. After all, he  _had_ trained with the servants and other guards a lot. Most of the time, actually. Without the help of various other people, like guards that already knew how to fight, he never would've gotten on the level he was now. The others had taught him many different tricks and many different fighting styles, and he'd been able to practice fighting people with many different styles. That had been great for both his offense and defense. Hajime came prepared.

The man was better off not knowing.

The man scoffed. “You’re bluffing. Obviously. Why the hell would the crown prince pay attention to a measly servant if he doesn’t even pay attention to the richest of the kingdom? He has much better things to do than pay attention to the likes of you and those other servant brats you took along with you. What are you even trying to do here, make a point? You’re not succeeding.”

“Actually,” Hiro then cut in before Hajime or the other man could say another word. “Actually, he’s right. Prince Hajime actually gives a shit about other people, and trained together with his guards and servants. Us three are some of the closest servants of his, and I can attest that Izuno was one of the best. I’d watch your mouth if I were you.”

Hajime shot a mental thank you to Takahiro. This was exactly what his argument needed, right now, and it wasn’t _too_ suspicious. He was sure Takahiro would ask for a favor in return later, but he’d give it to him. Hiro saved his skin here.

The man narrowed his eyes. Then he balled his fist again and swung. The crowd gasped in anticipation.

 _He’s sloppy,_ was all Hajime thought. _Even more sloppy than Hiro in a fistfight._

Hajime didn’t even have to think about it, the move ingrained in his muscle memory. He gave a light push to his arm, so his face was no longer in the trajectory path, and sidestepped. The man’s fist was flying far out of range, and Hajime grinned.

“You know, I was going to let you off easy for doubting me and calling me a kid, since I can understand where you’re coming from when you think Hajime-sama wouldn’t pay attention to a lousy servant like me. But, now you took a swing, so I think you ruined that for yourself. This is just self-defense.”

Before he’d even finished his sentence, his own fist had already landed in the man’s stomach, forcing the air out of his lungs. In just mere seconds, he’d managed to also land a hit on his jaw and a faster but softer one, right in his face. His fist hit the man’s nose with a sickeningly satisfying cracking sound. The man’s eyes rolled back in his head, only showing the whites. Then his body grew limp and he fell into a puddle at Hajime’s feet. Knock-out.

With a satisfied, but still sweet smile, he stepped over the man’s body. The power was alright, could’ve been better. He was quite happy with the speed. Now he would work more on combining the two. Now, if he focused on speed, the power was usually a bit behind, and the other way around. He wanted his punches to be a perfect, fatal combination, so he’d only need one or two hits to knock someone out. Fist fighting wasn’t the only fighting style he knew, but the one he’s been practicing the most lately, since it was still not exactly the way he wanted it to be.

His eye fell on a tiny, blonde girl standing a little bit away, next to the boy’s body- Oikawa was his name. “How long has this been going on?” he asked her, willing some of the anger coursing through his veins away.

She startled and bowed deeply, her entire body shaking like a leaf. “I- I’m- I’m so sorry, I’m so, so sorry sir, I didn’t- it’s all my fault, sir, please don’t- he-”

“Okay,” Hajime said, gently cutting her off. “Wait a second.” Then he turned to the -still thick and rowdy- crowd and the other men, who were fussing over their still knocked out friend. He furrowed his brows into a glare again, and gestured at the crowd, letting authority seep into his voice. “Show’s over, go back home!”

The authority-thing was something his oldest tutor, a retired commanding officer, had taught him, to give him a bit of an advantage. It clearly paid off, because the people that had been pushing to see what was going on were now quickly scurrying away, back to the safety of their homes. The men that had been in the circle with the knocked-out man before, grumbled for a bit, but remembered the ease with which Hajime had knocked out their friend and also cleared the area. After a few minutes, it was just the five of them and a stray dog a bit further in the street.

Hajime was satisfied to see that Issei and Takahiro were now tending to Oikawa, who was still out cold. Only then, he turned back to the little girl.

“So,” he said with a kind voice, “who are you?”

The girl looked like she could burst out crying any second now, and she still refused to look Hajime in the eye.

“I- I’m so sorry for the hassle, sir, I- we… It’s my fault, sir, please don’t take him away from me, or me, please don’t make us split up. I… we have nothing to offer you, sir, I’m so sorry, we only have each other and… Oh no, I’m so sorry, you’re probably not even interested, please don’t hit me. I’m so sorry…”

Hajime laid a warm hand on her shoulder and pulled her chin up with one finger, so she had to look him in the eye. Then he smiled warmly at her, and he was pleased to see some of the anxiety and fear that had been evident before, leave her eyes.

“Don’t worry about any of that. I won’t ask anything from you, and I promise we won’t take anything either. We’re on your side, you can trust us. I… All we want is to help, so it’d really help us if you gave us some more information about the situation. Can you tell me more about you two?”

The girl smiled back at him, although it was still shaky. Hajime could see in everything (her eyes, her posture…) that she was still on edge, and he couldn’t blame her one bit if what had happened just minutes ago was a regular occurrence.

“Haji working his magic again,” he heard Hiro snicker softly to the side, but he ignored it.

“Yeah, I- Yes, I can do that,” the girl said with a soft, but determined voice. Her eyes moved quickly between Hajime and Oikawa, who had finally gotten a little bit less pale. Hajime thought he’d wake up soon. “I’m Yachi, Yachi Hitoka. I- I’m 13 and that’s Oikawa Tooru. Tooru-nii is 20. We met when I was really young, maybe 5 years old. He’s taken care of me since then. He… He did all kinds of work, and some of that wasn’t very appreciated by the people here. He’s done a lot of things he didn’t want to do, just to take care of me. He’s like my big brother.

The people here care a lot about family and traditions, and we’re both orphans. We only have each other, and we live from whatever we can find. That’s not seen as a good thing by the other people, and Tooru-nii always protected me from them, and it’s escalated to… _this. A_ nd they won’t leave him alone now, and I can’t do anything about it even though it’s all my fault and I-”

She was choking up, and Hajime quickly moved to shush her, gently patting her shoulder. Yachi was all bones and skin, not an ounce of fat on her already small body. It looked like Oikawa wasn’t in a much better condition. Hajime felt rage brewing inside him, when he heard about everything these two had been through. Little Yachi had grown up like this, and it sounded like Oikawa had given up everything to keep Yachi safe and raise her as well as he could. If Oikawa was now 20 and had started taking care of 13-year old Yachi when she was 5, he must’ve been 12 years old, at most. Hajime couldn’t imagine being in their situation. Together with the rage, he felt an immense wave of admiration flow through him. They were _amazing._

Right when Hajime thought that, Oikawa sat up a few meters away from him. Issei immediately offered him some water, and he accepted it with a suspicious look on his face, drinking extremely slowly. It hurt Hajime to watch.

How were these two still alive and standing after all this?

After he finished the water, Oikawa, however wobbly, stood up with minimal help from Issei and Takahiro. He was almost as skinny as Yachi, only his height and lithe muscles making him look less small. He looked absolutely _exhausted,_ though. Hajime wasn’t surprised at that.

“And he’s back up again,” Hajime murmured under his breath, turning around to properly assess the situation. Oikawa was standing on his own now, looking way steadier than he probably was.

“So, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said, his voice gaudy and confident. _Defense mechanism,_ Hajime’s brains supplied for him. Hajime didn’t even want to know how much willpower and stubbornness it took Oikawa to stand straight and speak like that; strong, unwavering. “What do you want from us?”

Wait. _Iwa-chan?_

No, he definitely hadn’t misheard. Oikawa had called him Iwa-chan.

“It’s Izuno,” Hajime said, frowning lightly. “And nothing. I don’t want anything from you two.”

Oikawa scoffed. “Yeah, sure, and I live in the palace. You expect me to believe that, _Iwa-chan?_ You wouldn’t help me if you didn’t need something from me, so spit it out.”

“ _Izuno,_ ” Hajime said, forcing himself to calm down a bit, before he started yelling at Oikawa. “Get your facts right.”

“Sure, sure,” Oikawa said haughtily, “Iwa, Izu, all the same thing, isn’t it?”

“It’s not.”

Iwa-chan came a bit too close for comfort to his own, real name. What if Oikawa recognized him through the disguise? It hadn’t fallen off, right? Checking now would be too suspicious, so he restrained himself and kept his eyes on Oikawa. The joke he made about the castle… Was that really just a joke, or was he hinting at something?

That he _knew?_

“If you’re going to be difficult, you can take care of your own shit, you ass,” Hajime snapped.

Oikawa smiled- it was too wide and toothy to be real. He waved one hand in front of his face. “Fine, sure. Your anger and punishments can’t be much worse than this shithole, Iwa-chan.”

Hajime grumbled something incoherent, and got on Nika again, stepping away with Issei and Takahiro copying him not much later.

“We’ll be fine, just go home to your pretty castle already,” Oikawa said, suddenly sounding malicious. As they rode away, he heard Oikawa yell something else behind him. “By the way, that wig doesn’t do very much, Iwa-chan!”

_Fuck._

***

When they arrived back at the palace, Hajime couldn’t get the two out of his head. His life, however, was immediately forced back to how it was, as he took of the wig and hid it again. He managed to sneak some food for the three of them out of the kitchen, and went to his bedroom with Issei and Takahiro hot on his heels.

He couldn’t stop thinking about the fight at the village. Had he done good by intervening like that? Should he have left them alone? He was almost 99% sure Oikawa recognized him, and if he went around, telling everyone he’d seen _prince Hajime_ with a stupid wig and a silly disguise, it wouldn’t be safe to go on a trip again in the near future.

He wished he’d made Yachi promise to send him a message if the villagers hurt them again. He hadn’t had the time to say anything else, since the thought of Oikawa truly recognizing made him pretty stressed.

He hoped the villagers would leave them alone from now on. Then and there, Hajime vowed to himself that the second he was king, he’d get the two of them out of there. He hadn’t yet thought about where they’d live, but maybe they’d agree to being another servant of his. Then he could at least be sure they were treated well, from then on and until their retirement.

 

From then on, Hajime was kind of forced to stay in the castle, holed up like a vulnerable treasure. He hated it. He wanted to go outside, and travel, and meet new people and visit new regions and _explore-_

He wasn’t made to live like this, really.

Inside the castle, his parents were going crazy with stress, trying to formulate a message to the kingdom. They were planning some sort of event, where towns could send a legible girl. Hajime would choose from one of them. He was dreading the day they finally finished preparations. With the choosing day coming closer and closer, he realized that there was truly no way out for him anymore.

He had to choose the girl, but in the end he didn’t have any say in this matter. He would choose, and he would marry one of them, and she would be his queen, and he would have to be with her for the rest of their lives, and he would have to have children with her.

It was terrifying.

He couldn’t.

He really, truly couldn’t, but he had to. He had no choice.

 

In the end, it was even worse than he’d first thought. It wasn’t just an event. His parents had made it seem like it was a fucking contest, just a fun day where one man would decide the further life of one of the girls, who were by now sent and staying in the castle.

First, his parents would select the best girls from all three provinces, five girls per province. Then, Hajime would only have to choose from 15 instead of over a hundred. He didn’t know if he liked or disliked having less options. It would save him time, but also make the choice a lot harder, probably. He at least hoped his parents picked girls they thought Hajime would like, not just girls _they_ liked. If she was at least nice, it’d be a little bit easier.

Maybe.

The idea was still ridiculous. But, seeing he couldn’t come up with a better way to go at this, he would just have to smile and nod and do what his parents had planned out for him.

They meant well, and he didn’t blame them for anything. It was just… really shitty.

With his parents constantly running around and after him, he didn’t have any free time to go on other trips again. That was probably one of the worst things of all. He was afraid that as soon as he’d chosen, he wouldn’t be able to make any trips anymore. That would mean that the one where he met Oikawa and Yachi was his last. He didn’t want it to end like this.

 

On the day of the choosing, things were, surprisingly enough, less hectic than they’d been the weeks before. Hajime would wait in his room, behind his desk. The girls would enter the room one by one and have a short talk with him.

He’d managed to convince his parents to let Issei and Takahiro stay with him. That brought Hajime great comfort, even though they had to stay on the other side of the room. “To keep an eye on the situation,” Hajime had said. “What if one of them ends up being an assassin, and I’m not prepared? Then they could save me.”

His parents had agreed, on the terms that they didn’t interfere when nothing was getting out of hand.

With the first girl, it was already bad, though. She entered the room with a confident shimmy in her hips, boasting her curvy figure. She leaned over the desk and shot Hajime a – what was probably supposed to be sultry, or maybe it was to seduce him -  look. Hajime already didn’t like her.

“How clever of you, to let me come in first,” she almost _purred._ “Makes the process a lot easier, don’t you agree?”

She pointed a finger, tapping his nose, and Hajime almost automatically frowned and scrunched it up in disgust. Just who did she think she was?

“I didn’t decide the order,” he then said, allowing his voice to sound a bit harsher than it was probably supposed to. “And what are you talking about?”

The girl (Hajime didn’t even know her name, sue him) didn’t appear phased. She just pulled up one eyebrow and smirked lightly. “Well,” she said, matter-of-factly, “we’re finished now, aren’t we?”

Hajime also raised an eyebrow and leaned back, resting his head on his arms that he folded behind his head. “And why do you think so?”

The girl still looked 100% confident, and Hajime despised it. She really had no right or reason to be thinking like that.

“Because I already know you’ll pick me,” she answered, smirking _so_ smugly Hajime couldn’t stop himself from returning the look.

“This isn’t a job interview. Next!” he then said, yelling the last part to the servant on the other side of the door, meaning it was time for the second girl to be let inside now. Ignoring Issei’s and Hiro’s muffled laughter, he smiled sweetly at the girl who was just staring at him, a shocked and mildly angry look on her face.

Hajime felt a little bit like a sadist, but he absolutely loved the face she made before she left the room. “So cold,” Hiro guffawed on the other side of the room, but Hajime still ignored him. The next girl already stood in front of his desk, looking very proper and pretty. But, a natural kind of pretty. Even Hajime could acknowledge that this girl was beautiful. He was not interested in people at all, but he also wasn’t blind.

She was a bit quiet, but polite, and friendly. She seemed very smart, and Hajime decided he’d keep her in mind. She was a bit cold, but maybe that meant she wouldn’t bother him too much, if they were to marry later. Hajime wasn’t too sure she’d appreciate him going on adventures or trips, let alone if he kept fighting. She didn’t look too much like she wanted this herself, but she didn’t seem to hate it either. If everyone else was as bad as the first girl, Hajime knew he’d have to choose this girl, Shimizu Kiyoko, if he wanted a fairly peaceful marriage and a queen with a good head on her shoulders.

Next up was a shy-looking, petite girl with light blonde hair. She reminded him of Yachi at first, and he was a little bit weirded out, but then she opened her mouth and proved to be just as bad as the first one. Hajime dismissed her immediately.

He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger, sighing deeply. “If they’re all going to be like that, I’ll throw myself out of a window before this afternoon is over,” Hajime then groaned out, receiving sympathetic pats on the shoulders from Issei and Takahiro.

“Ready for the next one?”

Hajime sighed. It wasn’t like he had much of a choice. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

 

The next one was nice, kind of, but so loud Hajime’s head hurt after just minutes of conversing with her. The two girls after that were, again, convinced Hajime liked it when women were or appeared confident, and thought he’d automatically pick them.

The seventh, eighth and ninth were just…. So, so bland. Hajime tried, he really did, but he couldn’t find one single interesting aspect in their personalities or the things they talked to him about. It was all the same, and nothing caught Hajime’s attention or interest at all.

The three all didn’t last very long.

It looked like he’d have to choose Shimizu Kiyoko, after all. He wasn’t sure if he felt neutral about it, or hated it. She’d probably leave him alone, but it would be a very cold, distant relationship. Hajime was a bit afraid that it would change his way of ruling. He didn’t want to change. He didn’t want to be influenced in his choices by someone else. Especially not someone he, in all honesty, didn’t even want to spend more than a day with. Shimizu Kiyoko seemed like she was an okay girl, but if Hajime chose her, she wouldn’t stay just some girl. She’d be his wife, and the queen of his kingdom.

He didn’t want that.

Feeling a headache come up, Hajime called for a break. Immediately after, he let his head fall on the surface of his desk. It hurt a little bit, but he couldn’t be bothered to care. He was so, so tired of this, and he hadn’t even been at it for more than an hour. This was exhausting.

“There, there,” Takahiro said, walking over and patting Hajime’s shoulder. “You’ll be fine. There are still five girls left.”

“Please don’t remind me,” Hajime groaned. “I hate every single part of this. They’re all shallow and stupid and I feel disgusting. Like I’m just assessing them, like they’re a piece of meat. I’m just deciding which piece looks the best. I hate it.”

“You’re almost done,” Issei said. “You don’t know who’s with the other five. Maybe there’s a nice one in there, we’ll see.”

“Let’s just finish this,” Takahiro added. “If we’re lucky there’s one who’s a bit friendlier than Kiyoko-san in the end. We’ll have to wait and see.”

“Kiyoko-san was nice,” Hajime said, defending her. “I just can’t see myself marrying her, and… well, most likely living in silence for the rest of my life.”

Issei hummed. “I can understand that. She didn’t seem like the most out-going or cheerful person.”

“She was really smart,” Hajime said, “and I don’t like people who are too loud anyway, but I don’t like complete silence either. She was the best one until now, though. If those other five are no good, I’ll have to choose Kiyoko.”

“You don’t like people at all,” Hiro smartly interjected. “Not romantically, at least. I trust you, Haji. You’ll be fine. You’ll find someone who’s a good enough fit, I’m sure of it.”

Hajime smiled, although a bit weakly. “Break’s over, duty calls.”

He felt a little bad about it afterwards, but he didn’t pay much attention to the next two girls. They weren’t all that interesting, and they didn’t seem to care very much for the job either. They’d both been dolled up like crazy by their caretakers. Hajime did feel sorry for that. It must’ve cost a lot of time to get their make-up like that, and money as well. Hajime couldn’t imagine the dresses and make-up being comfortable. He decided he felt more sorry for the girls for having to look like this, than for being ignored by him.

Picking either of them would not lead to a happy marriage, nor a good, functioning relationship as king and queen. In the end, the kingdom was the most important.

After the 12th girl left, Takahiro peeked his head out of the door to look at the remaining three girls. When he stepped back inside, his eyes were wide as saucers and he looked extremely shocked. Before Hajime could ask what was wrong, the 13th girl stepped in.

Girl?

“Hi there,” she said cockily, and Hajime had half the mind to immediately send her out again. _Please,_ Hajime silently prayed, _give me a normal one this time._

She (?) sat down, her cocky expression stretching into a lazy smile. Her voice was higher than that of most men, but definitely lower than a woman’s. Hajime shot a quick look to Hiro, who was now very animatedly whispering something to Issei. He figured it had something to do with the girl in front of him.

Now that he focused his attention on the girl, he couldn’t deny that her features were extremely familiar. This was someone he’d seen before, no doubt. Maybe on a trip? They’ve been almost everywhere, he easily could’ve spoken her on a market somewhere.

Then she spoke again.

“Remember me, Iwa-chan?”

 

Holy shit. The only one who had ever been stupid enough to call him that, was a poor, abused and orphaned young man, hours away from the castle. Oikawa Tooru.

It couldn’t be him, right? The person in front of him wasn’t as feminine as the others had been, but had an undeniable air of grace and elegance around them.

Could it be?

In lieu of a response, Hajime only pulled up one eyebrow and leaned back in his seat. “Enlighten me,” he drawled out, ignoring the signs Issei and Takahiro were trying to send him. He didn’t know what they were hinting it- he couldn’t follow their signs at all.

“I suppose you want me to believe you?” the Oikawa-girl said, smiling innocently. “I’m pretty good at pretending, Iwa-chan.”

“I hope you know I could get you into prison for calling me that without even telling me your name,” Hajime said threateningly.

“Oh, you wouldn’t,” Oikawa (with this attitude the girl was displaying, Hajime could only assume it actually was Oikawa Tooru he was talking to) said, the stupid smile still plastered on his face. “You wouldn’t have saved me if that was really how you are. You’re too soft to throw me into jail.”

Hajime gritted his teeth, immediately after catching himself. He didn’t want to show Oikawa his irritations. But, fair enough. He had to give him that one; in that relation he really was too soft. Maybe that was also because it was Oikawa, and Hajime knew he’d been through enough.

“See? I was right,” Oikawa said smugly. Then he sighed and pouted. “This wig is itchy, Iwa-chan. How do you do it all the time?’

Hajime was too stunned by this sudden switch in attitude, he forgot to respond. Oikawa just smiled innocently at him. “Never mind, Iwa-chan. Guess you’re just too much of a brute to feel it. But that’s okay, don’t mind!”

It took all of Hajime’s willpower not to frown or explode. This guy…

“Stop messing around,” Hajime said angrily. “This is a serious issue, if you weren’t aware of that. This isn’t just some nice, sweet meet-up or gathering. This is about the kingdom’s future, and I don’t want this at all but I’m still here, and I definitely don’t appreciate you making some joke of this. Are you Oikawa Tooru or not?”

Oikawa looked shocked, but only for a second. Then he quickly schooled his expression again, and even had the conscience to look a little bit guilty. “Sorry, Iwa-chan. I’m taking this seriously too, but I can’t help it that my dearest neighbors hated me enough to force me to pretend to be a woman and come here to woo you and get them more money. They don’t know we’ve met.”

Hajime and Oikawa looked at each other in silence for a little while. “Alright,” Hajime then said, his tone final. “Then the disguise…”

“It was pretty good, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said pleasantly. “I’m just hard to fool.”

Hajime nodded. At least he knew none of the other villagers had recognized him on his trip, now already a few months ago. His coronation would be in a bit over 8 months, and having his (kind of illegal) solo trips revealed to both his family and the rest of the entire kingdom didn’t sound like a very good idea. He was happy only Oikawa, and maybe Yachi after that, had recognized him.

Still. It was, again, made clear how extremely despicable those villagers were. If Hajime hadn’t known, and believed that Oikawa was a woman, and had maybe chosen him, it would’ve been disastrous for Oikawa. Especially if it was revealed or even found out _after_ the marriage and coronation. They were willing to force Oikawa to pretend to be someone he definitely wasn’t, risking his life doing it, only for the _tiny_ chance of them getting money for Oikawa.

They were just trying to sell him. Hajime realized that if he didn’t choose Oikawa now, they’d just look for another way to dispose of him. And knowing Oikawa would do anything to keep Yachi safe, they would succeed. If things went their way, there weren’t any negative outcomes for them.

On the other hand… this would be a great chance to punish those people. If he decided to choose Oikawa, and reveal early on that he was a man, he could accuse the village’s elders of trying to fool their king by sending a man, disguised as a woman. He could ban them, he could give them a fine, he could put them in servitude for himself… anything.

This time around, he was the one with power. He was the one with authority, the one they couldn’t begin anything against.

“Uh oh, he’s plotting something,” he heard Takahiro say. “Watch it, Oikawa, that’s his plotting face. I wouldn’t trust it if I were you.”

Oikawa frowned. “Oh, I think I know what he’s plotting. I don’t like it. Don’t do it, Iwa-chan, I’ll hate you forever! I need to go back, to Hitoka-chan!”

Takahiro and Issei shot each other a look, but Hajime ignored all of them. If this succeeded…. He would get his revenge, both for himself for having to stoop so low to actually fight one of them after being insulted by them and for Oikawa and Yachi, for things he didn’t even (want to) know about.

There was a problem, though. His parents, the government, the kingdom… There was no way for him to make this happen without having to reveal Oikawa’s true gender to the public. They wouldn’t be able to marry, and while he would’ve had chosen someone, he still wouldn’t have a queen, like he was supposed to. He was still supposed to marry before his coronation. He wouldn’t be able to just shrug that off and do whatever he liked and wanted to do.

“Iwa-chan, I’m serious. Stop it! You’re not choosing me, you hear?” Oikawa said, suddenly standing up. His face was contorted with worry and anger. Hajime ignored him. Oikawa was just afraid something would happen to Yachi. Hajime wouldn’t let that happen. Never again.

“What--” he heard Takahiro say, but he was quickly shushed by Issei. They shot him questioning looks.

Did he want Oikawa out of the room? Hajime could read the question in their eyes, and he nodded. He knew enough. He would have to see what happened.

 

Hajime was too distracted to really listen to the other girls. They didn’t manage to catch his attention either, so he didn’t think they were all too impressive. Maybe he was too demanding. Maybe he was too perfectionistic, maybe he was too critical. Maybe. He didn’t care. His kingdom needed and deserved the best he could offer, and Hajime would give anything to keep his kingdom in good condition and give it a good future.

As much as he hated it, as much as he dreaded the day it would happen, he was even willing to marry a woman if it meant the best for his kingdom.

Just minutes after telling the last girl she could leave, Hajime’s parents entered the room and both gave him a quick hug. “Thank you for doing this,” Arata said, sounding grateful.

“How was it, were they any good?” Chiyo asked curiously, poking and prodding at Hajime’s arm. He chuckled and gently shrugged her off. Then he sighed, and shrugged his shoulders.

“It was alright, I guess. Could’ve been worse. They were all trying to seduce me, or something.”

Chiyo bristled. “I knew something was up with that blondie,” she hissed, eyes narrowed. “She didn’t do anything, right?”

Hajime shook his head. “No, I was fine. There were two decent ones.”

“Oh?” Arata asked, perking up curiously. “Which ones? That Shimizu girl, right?”

Hajime nodded. “She wasn’t very… friendly. Or enthusiastic. She did seem smart, I think she would be able to handle the job.”

Arata nodded proudly. “I knew she was a good one when I saw her.”

“Who was the other one?” Chiyo asked after a moment of silence. With a shock, Hajime realized he hadn’t even asked what Oikawa’s female name was supposed to be.

“Um… I forgot to ask her name. The… the really tall one? With the brown hair.” Hajime stumbled, hoping his parents would take it.

Luckily, understanding dawned on their faces and they nodded. “She seemed like a smart one, too,” Arata commented. Chiyo just hummed. “And that smile of hers was just dazzling. Oikawa was her name, Oikawa Akira.”

Hajime tried to remember Oikawa’s smile as dazzling, but all he could remember it as was fake, and too wide and cheerful. He was a good actor, at least, Hajime supposed. To please his parents, he just nodded.

“Know who you’ll choose?” Chiyo then asked, and Hajime startled. He would have to choose between Oikawa and Kiyoko in a few minutes.

Would he choose the woman, like he was supposed to, who had a good head on her shoulders and could be a good, responsible queen, or Oikawa, whose life (and that of Yachi) would be saved if he did and who knew exactly how the world worked and what was wrong in it? Hajime had to admit Oikawa was a good actor, as well. He wasn’t fooled, but Hajime himself couldn’t fool his parents or Takahiro and Issei, and Oikawa had. Other than that, he seemed to have a strong mind and know what to say, Hajime thought as he thought back to the day he first met Oikawa.

Live peacefully with a woman, however in a cold, unloving relationship, or live a quite possibly very interesting life with a man he could possibly become close friends with, who helped him recover the kingdom of hidden poverty?

“Yes, I think I know already.”

Oikawa wasn’t going to like it. Hajime knew that. He knew Oikawa would get mad. Maybe he’s even start screaming, or really, like he’d said earlier, hate Hajime for the rest of their lives. If Hajime’s assumptions were right, he’d cool down once Yachi was safe in the castle as well. He had to risk it.

Hajime couldn’t live a happy life with Kiyoko. She would make a good queen, but not for this kingdom. Not for Hajime.

“I choose Oikawa.”

***

 “Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is,” was the first thing Oikawa said when he stepped back into the room. “Tell me, right now.”

“That… depends on what you think this is about,” Hajime said, feeling slightly nervous for some reason. He refused to look away, though. He already knew what was coming. Now he just had to face it head on. And get through it, probably.

Oikawa narrowed his eyes. He looked menacing, and Hajime was instantly reminded of the vicious looks he’d thrown his abusers. Which was now aimed at him. He coughed and tilted his head a bit, trying to look less serious and intimidating. (A lot of people had told him he looks angry when he’s thinking about something, and that that look can be very scary. He tries not to do it too often.)

“You chose me.”

That was all Oikawa needed to say, and Hajime only needed to flinch the slightest bit to know exactly how Hajime and Oikawa both felt about this. He still didn’t look away from Oikawa’s stare.

Hajime slightly guilty, but determined. Oikawa livid, not understanding why Hajime had done something like that to him when he could’ve chosen anyone else. Especially after Oikawa had asked Hajime not to do it.

Hajime scraped his throat, but didn’t say anything. He only nodded, and if that was even possible, Oikawa only looked more angry at that.

Hajime couldn’t help but notice the hopelessness and panic that had also appeared in his eyes for a millisecond. Oikawa wanted this as much as him, and had a good reason to want to go back.

Then, in a flash of movement, Oikawa was snarling, hands pressed against Hajime’s throat, not clenching but threatening to, pressing him against the wall behind his desk. “

“How could you?” Oikawa said with such ferocity it scared Hajime for a second.  This Oikawa was nothing like the weak young man he’d seen at the village, and even less than the elegant Oikawa that had been in this room just under half an hour ago, on the other side of the desk, with crossed legs and a bright smile.

This Oikawa was terrifying, and extremely angry.

“How _could_ you?” Oikawa repeated, somehow sounding even colder than before. It was like all cheer and compassion of earlier had left his body, like he was just a shell of a person, on the brink of going insane with blinding, burning hot anger.

“You, of all people in this damned castle, know of our situation. You of all people should’ve known interfering in an issue as mine is not what you’re supposed to do. Look at what happened last time. Are you fucking insane? What were you thinking, do you expect me to fall at your knees in thankfulness because you got me away from there? Because believe me, Iwaizumi Hajime, I’d rather _die._ ”

Hajime stayed quiet. It wouldn’t be smart to go against him now. It was best to just let Oikawa rage now, let all his feelings out. Then he’d figure out what to do.

“And- And Yachi!” Oikawa continued, absolutely seething, stumbling over his words in his rage. “What do you expect me to do to keep her safe from here? Nothing! I’ll have to live in hiding, because there’s no way anyone will approve of me being a second king and there’s not a fucking chance I’ll stay dressed up as a woman my whole life.”

Then, Oikawa calmed down a bit, and released Hajime’s throat. He still stayed very close, his tall figure (taller than Hajime) still looming over him threateningly. Hajime didn’t like being threatened, but he took it in stride this time. This time, when Oikawa spoke up, it was devoid of all emotion. Just plain cold, and tired. Hajime couldn’t really figure out which one was worse.

“Yachi can’t stay without me in that damned village, and you should know that. I demand you send me back right now to stay with her. Pick someone else. There must’ve been someone else pretty enough to cater to your petty needs. You are going to choose a woman and I’m going home.”

This was going too far. This was where Hajime needed to step in to stop Oikawa from actually going back, or something equally as stupid.

“Oikawa,” he started, deciding to just go with whatever sounded the least aggressive or mean. “Could you listen to me for a second? If you go back there, you’re dead, you and Yachi both. It’ll do her or you no good if you go back. Are those people bad enough to hurt a 13-year old girl?”

Oikawa shot him a disbelieving look. “Are you fucking stupid? Why do you think they were even targeting me in the first place? That all started because I stepped in for Yachi when she was caught stealing, years and years ago, and they saw me as a willing substitute. I’ve been gone for three days now. I don’t even want to know what they’ve done to her by now.”

He hesitated a second. Then his expression darkened. “Well, I do. So I know what I can bash them for.”

Hajime pulled up one eyebrow and gently pushed Oikawa away from him now that he’d calmed down a bit. Now, he didn’t seem that angry anymore. Mostly just… tired, and like he’d lost all hope. Desperate. Just like Hajime became more and more desperate to help them out by the minute.

He quickly thought it over. If he managed to convince everyone that Oikawa was a good idea, that he could rule together with another man, without marrying… Then they could save Yachi forever, and maybe even grow a bit closer later. So that they were on friendly terms, at least.

“We’ll get her away from there,” Hajime then blurted out. “I promise.’

Oikawa was silent for a while. Then he laughed, but it was too loud, too shrill. Too fake to be a real laugh. “And how do you think to do that, big boy?

Hajime frowned. “Either we do it the official way, or we do it the way I got to your village.”

“With a shitty disguise?”

Hajime scoffed. “In almost two years, you’re the first one to have recognized me. Don’t try to make a fool of me, I know what I’m doing and I’m good at it. Anyway, your choice. Either we reveal you early on and sue every single bad person in that village, or we steal Yachi from them.”

Oikawa hesitated. “Are you—If you’re shitting me right now, I’ll kill you.”

“I’m not shitting you,” Hajime said. “I promised you, right? I never go back on my word. Hiro and Issei can testify.”

“They’re the servants you had with you last time?” Oikawa asked, one eyebrow high on his forehead. His head was tilted back a bit, and it almost looked like he was mocking Hajime. He gracefully decided to ignore Oikawa for now. He’s get back at him when he’d earned Oikawa’s trust.

Not in a bad way, of course, just..

Well, that didn’t matter anyway, if he didn’t even ever manage to gain that trust. Oikawa didn’t seem like a person to trust others easily, be it with his secrets, his life, his friendship or even his presence. Hajime didn’t mind. They’d get there.

For now though, he was kind of annoyed with what Oikawa said about Hiro and Issei. Servants. Like he thought Hajime felt they were less than him, just because they were in lower status than him.

It wasn’t illogical, of course, and Hajime didn’t expect anything else. Everyone thought like that at first, until Hajime proved them otherwise.

“You mean my childhood friends?” Hajime asked Oikawa in response, adding some bite to his voice.

“So you mean to say they’re not servants?” Oikawa said, still in that haughty tone. Hajime lightly gritted his teeth. Oikawa was either testing him, or locking himself away from Hajime. He didn’t like both possibilities.

“They are,” Hajime bit out, albeit softly. “That doesn’t change anything. They’re still my childhood friends, and they know more about me than even my old nanny or my own parents.”

Oikawa pulled his eyebrow up again, though this time it looked less mocking, more surprised. “So what they say is true. Prince Hajime isn’t a heartless bitch after all, and considers himself an equal with everyone he meets.”

Now Hajime was the one surprised. “People say that?”

“I hear the villagers talk about it sometimes,” Oikawa said, shrugging. “About how you’re just trying to set an image for the people so they start liking you, and they often talk about if it’s true or not that you took all your classes together with the servants.”

“Oh,” was all Hajime could say. Those stupid villagers. He’d teach them.

“What is true of that rumor?” Oikawa asked, lightly pushing at Hajime’s shoulder.

“I… I guess it’s half true. I asked my teacher if he’d also give the servant’s kids some lessons, like writing and reading, but I still had private lessons. They had three mornings, I had two mornings and 5 evenings. There was a problem though; because the circumstances at the castle were good for the servants, more started coming and there were a lot of kids between six and eighteen. They all were allowed to follow the lessons, but there were often too many. When I was five, I just started my lessons, and Hiro and Issei hadn’t been able to follow any because there were so many kids. When we became friends, they came with me and so we had private lessons with the three of us.”

Hajime wasn’t so sure why he was telling Oikawa that. Oikawa was great at pulling stories out of a person without any prompting, he then realized. That was dangerous, but could also benefit him very much. Hajime never had much patience for questioning people, or interrogations. It seemed like Oikawa would be able to help him a great deal with that.

“I… Okay,” Oikawa then said, his body slightly relaxing. Only then Hajime realized he’s been all tensed up all that time.

It saddened him. To Hajime, it meant Oikawa didn’t feel safe in this room. Always ready to run.

He understood, though. How could he not? He’d seen firsthand how Oikawa was used to being treated, and this new place, the new environment, these new people… he could only imagine how extremely stressful this must be for Oikawa.

Hajime pointed him to the chair he had sat in before, along with (most of) the other girls. Oikawa followed his hand with his eyes, and didn’t look back at Hajime until he’d properly sat down. Hajime also sat down in _his_ seat, and rested his chin on his hand, elbow leaning on the desk.

It was quiet for a while, until Oikawa averted his gaze.

“I appreciate this and all, but I don’t really want your help.”

Hajime ignored the finality in Oikawa’s voice and sat up straight, sighing. “You know, this is a good opportunity for both of us.  Marriage between two men isn’t allowed, which is great for me. I don’t want to marry, and never have. Now I can have someone by my side without having to marry. For you… I think it’s pretty clear how good of an opportunity this is for you. You’ll be away from the village, in a castle, with a top position. Yachi will be here with you and live the life you both deserve more than anyone else.”

 

Oikawa sighed. “And what if living in the castle is not at all what I want? I refuse to be cooped up in here for the rest of my life just because you’re too selfish to suck it up and choose a woman to marry.”

Hajime shot a small glare at Oikawa. “And why do you think this whole meeting girls process was even happening? I was doing exactly that, with keeping in mind that it’s for the best, for the kingdom. Then you came along. This is benefitting for the both of us, we’re helping each other out if you agree to this.”

“Stop talking like I still have a choice,” Oikawa snarled. “You choosing me has already decided everything. You think you know so well with your princely life and your load of so-called compassion, but you don’t know anything. Just because you saved one person, you’re not a hero.”

“Do you hear yourself? Why do you think I even had that disguise, do you seriously think the trip to your village was the only one I did? It was the _last_ one, but anything but the first. I’ve been doing that for years, Oikawa. And you’re right, I’m no hero. But there is nothing wrong with wanting to save as many as possible, and you two are the first step.”

“That doesn’t change things, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said. Hajime knew the nickname was added to annoy him, to piss him off, to test the limits of his patience. Hajime refused to give in. “Going on trips sometimes doesn’t make you a better person.”

“Your excuses and reasonings are weak,” Hajime commented. “And I never said it does. I made those trips to see more of the kingdom than this stupid confining castle and to see what was really wrong. Because the people are so proud and stubborn, no one here noticed everything that was going on. Everything seemed to be progressing perfectly, and I wanted to see with my own eyes if that’s true so I could change that by myself when I become king.”

“So you _do_ want to be king.”

Hajime only nodded. Oikawa stared at him without saying a word. Hajime didn’t know what Oikawa was thinking, but he did know that he was inspecting Hajime. To know if he was speaking the truth? Hajime didn’t know. As much as Oikawa had already proved to be an open book, he was also scarily closed off. Like he, at all times, tucked his own feeling away and put on an image for the world to see, and then only let those emotions show if they were forcefully pulled out of him, like in his fit of anger earlier.

Hajime could recognize himself a little bit in that. He himself was a very straightforward person and didn’t fake how he felt or acted towards other people. However, no one liked being vulnerable. In his most delicate, exposed moments, he hid away in his room, sometimes if it was really bad with Issei and Takahiro. Those were mostly the moments after talks with his parents.

_He couldn’t._

_He wanted to try, really. He wanted to, but he couldn’t. Not without sacrificing_ everything.

_‘I’m sorry, I can’t.’_

His parents didn’t understand, because he had never properly explained it to them. It wouldn’t change anything. Law was law, and his fate was set in stone.

 _Or so he thought,_ Hajime mused, looking at Oikawa.

After minutes and minutes of silence, Oikawa stood up abruptly, leaning on the desk with his hands. “Show me where I’m supposed to be staying. I want to be alone. We’ll figure out how to send me back and get you someone else tomorrow.”

Hajime nodded silently. Oikawa seemed milder about the plan now, but Hajime knew he wasn’t going to give in so easily. Hajime would have to prove that he was trustworthy to Oikawa, and he would. If Oikawa wouldn’t go along or wouldn’t agree himself, he’d go himself. Maybe send Hiro and Issei. That’d probably be safer. Those villagers probably didn’t like him much for knocking out one of their most prestigious fellow villagers.

After showing Oikawa his room and his sleeping clothes for later that evening, he left him alone, ignoring the look of wonder and excitement, hidden beneath a layer of icy indifference in Oikawa’s eyes. Hajime didn’t want to think about this possibly being the first time Oikawa slept in a room of his own, maybe even in a bed like this. Oikawa would’ve probably wanted him to ignore it, too. It seemed like he wasn’t very happy with pity or people seeing his weaker moments.

He went back to his own room, where Issei and Hiro had entered and sat down again after he and Oikawa left.

“So, it’s really him, right?”

Hajime nodded. “Yes, and he was desperately trying to convince me to send him back.”

Issei and Hiro looked at each other. “Yachi?” Hiro then guessed.

Hajime nodded again. “He wants to go back to her, keep her safe. He’s convinced the villagers won’t hold back with her, now that he’s not there to take her place. I’m sad to say it, but he’s probably right. Those people would stop at nothing to get her out of the way too.”

“So… what do we do?” Issei asked, even though he probably already knew what Hajime was going to say.

“We go get Yachi.”

It was silent for a while. Then Takahiro sighed. “I knew it. I guess it’s not a bad idea, for her, but… How are we going to do that? I doubt they’ve forgotten about us. Especially you.”

Hajime thought it over for a few seconds. “Oikawa wants to talk about it tomorrow, so he’s not going to come out of that room until then. He’s stubborn.”

“You’ve met him twice, and known him for maybe an hour. What makes it that you’re so sure he won’t try to escape, or something?” Issei commented. “If I were him I would’ve escaped the second you left that room.”

“All the guards still think he’s a woman, and one that needs protection. There are two guards outside the door, and the windows are locked. If he tries to break the locks, the guards will hear and come in. it’s all taken care of already.”

Issei nodded. “That doesn’t surprise me. ‘Safety before everything else’, right?”

Hajime huffed and continued explaining the plan he’d come up with on the way here. “It’s still early, and the town is maybe two hours away. That’s four hours of travelling and I don’t really want to spend any longer in that town than last time. Half an hour, at most. We can easily be back before dinner time, make sure Yachi gets cleaned up and a nice place to stay, and then take care of Oikawa and whether he’ll be okay with staying when Yachi is also here or not.”

Issei still didn’t look too sure of it, but Takahiro was now nodding. “It’ll be more dangerous than the usual trips, Haji. You do know that, right?” Issei said.

Hajime smiled at him. “I appreciate your worry, really, but I didn’t just _choose_ Oikawa. I also am pulling him along in this turmoil, into the stress and responsibility that will make out our lives in the near future. I am quite possibly ruining his life with this. Bringing Yachi to the castle, granting her safety… It’s the least I could do for him.”

“How… Are you going in disguise? Or will we go with an official delegate and guards this time? Because we’ll be faster if we go with the disguise, but also more dangerous. Going with a delegate will rise questions and will take longer, but it’s a lot safer and probably a lot more intimidating,” Hiro said. Hajime hadn’t thought about that, but he was already glad they were considering his idea. If this worked out…

“Or we go alone,” Issei then said. “Just me and Hiro. The villagers didn’t pay much attention to us, but Yachi saw us and we know the way there. It’ll be both faster and safer for you.”

At that suggestion, Hajime could only shake his head aggressively. “Well, I guess that’s a no,” Hiro mused. “But think about it, Haji. It’s actually a pretty good idea. Yachi could be less intimidated by us, because she didn’t see us fight. We’re good at sneaking around, we’ll get her out of there in no time. If you come along and any of us makes one wrong move, we’re dead. They’ll recognize you for sure.”

“No way!” Hajime exclaimed, finally able to form words. “What do you- No! If you’re going, I’m going. This is my responsibility and there’s no way I’m letting you two do this alone. If something happens, and it goes wrong, I- That can’t happen!”

Hiro sighed and moved over to the desk, sitting on the edge in front of Hajime. “Will you… Will you stop that, please? We- you… You’re always going on and on about duty, and responsibility, and of course that’s important, but… Sometimes we get worried, okay? We- at least, I do – feel like you’re taking on too much. You’re not the king yet. Preparation is good, but… Please don’t let the ‘responsibility’ consume you. Nothing of what happened is your fault, so it’s not up to you to fix it. Please let us do this for you.”

Issei also stood up and moved to stand next to Hiro, towering over the both of them. “We’re probably getting uncharacteristically soft, and I’m not going to apologize for that, but Hiro is right. Let it go for a bit. Let us take care of this. You’re doing something that’s entirely against your nature right now, with the whole choosing a woman and the marriage thing- please just rest for a bit. We’ll take care of everything else.”

Hajime bowed his head and stared at the floor. Yes, he was stressed out, but… This were his issues, and he was the one supposed to fix them, right?

“Get some rest,” Hiro said, more pressingly now. “We can do this. Trust us.”

Hajime stayed silent for a bit longer. then he slowly nodded.

“Okay. Okay, fine. I’ll rest.”

“Great,” Issei said. “Then we’ll leave now!”

“Yeah.”

Hajime still didn’t like this, but he’d give them this small victory.

 

Hours later, Hajime found himself getting worried, when Hiro and Issei finally returned. He hurried down to the stables to catch them before they could catch any other attention. To his relief, he saw they had Yachi with them. They were helping her off Hiro’s horse, and she didn’t look as bad as Hajime was afraid she’d look.

“You’re back,” he said, greeting them halfway.

“Without a hassle,” Hiro said smirking. “Did you get some rest?”

Hajime grumbled a bit. He had been so worried he hadn’t been able to sleep. He also couldn’t keep his mind off Oikawa; would he try to escape? Would he be happier with staying if he had Yachi by his side?

Would Hajime’s parents, or the government, or the kingdom, accept that there would be no marriage?

To keep himself from doing something stupid like racing after them, he’d went to the training room and had sparred with some guards for three solid hours. Then he’d taken a quick bath and told his parents in the most vague way he could (without disclosing information he wasn’t ready to tell them just yet, like Oikawa’s real gender) that Oikawa had a sister who would stay with her (him) in the castle.

“I… didn’t go outside the castle, does that count?”

Takahiro sighed, but his grin stayed. “I guess I could’ve seen that coming. You don’t know how to sit still.”

“I was worried, okay?” Hajime said to defend himself. “Would you be fine if I went on a dangerous mission alone? Remember the first trip? You wouldn’t leave me to do it alone either, so shut up.”

Issei and Hiro just laughed, and Hajime was reminded of the young girl standing between them. She looked to be in a better condition than the last time he saw her, though not much. Hajime suspected she wasn’t abused in those three days Oikawa was gone, but wasn’t left alone after Hajime left for the castle again.

Those despicable people.

Yachi looked mildly terrified, and Hajime sent a suspicious glare to Issei and Hiro. “How exactly did you do it?”

Issei and Hiro shared a sheepish look, and shrugged. Hajime sighed and motioned for them to follow him. “Let’s finish this in my room.”

Yachi was too nervous to protest, and they managed to sneak her into his room along with Issei and Takahiro while remaining unseen. He let Yachi have the seat behind his desk, and he sat down on his bed, Hiro and Issei standing beside him.

“So,” he started, a bit awkwardly. “Um… Do you know why you’re here?”

Yachi quickly shook her head. Hajime noticed she was trembling, and he could only feel sorry for the young girl.

“It’s because Oikawa is also here,” Hajime said, and Yachi immediately perked up a bit. “Were you aware he was sent in for the choosing of today?”

Yachi nodded. “They gave him a dress,” she said, furrowing her eyebrows. She still looked more like a scared than angry, though. Hajime wasn’t sure if she was able of looking angry.

“They did,” he said, “and do you know what the choosing was for?”

“To… To marry the crown prince, right?”

Hajime nodded. “That’s true. I’m the crown prince, and I chose Oikawa to rule with me.”

It was like he’d told her Oikawa was dead, or something like that, with the way she completely stiffened up in less than a second. An expression of horror was slapped onto her face, and she pushed herself back into the seat even further, if that was even possible.

“Oh- Oh my god, I’m so- Your highness, I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, I’m-” she squeaked, throwing herself into a low, kneeling bow, her entire body quivering. Hajime frowned and bit his lip. This wasn’t very good.

“Please stand up,” he said in a soft voice. Yachi didn’t move.

“Please stand up, Yachi,” he repeated, and Yachi looked up.

“You… You know who I am?”

Hajime mentally slapped himself. Of course. Last time she saw him, he was in disguise. Oikawa had recognized him, but Yachi probably hadn’t. If Oikawa hadn’t told her, she still didn’t know he was the one who stepped in, months ago. Big chance she also still believed the things Oikawa said the villagers had said about him.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I don’t mean any harm, really. I promise. I only want to help,” Hajime hurried to say. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down and soften his voice. “Do you remember Izuno? Who fought with a villager a few months ago?”

Yachi sat up on her knees, but lowered her eyes to the ground, nodding.

“Good. I’ll have to tell you that Izuno was me, with a disguise. Do you remember what I said? You can trust us. We’re on your side.”

Yachi’s eyes widened, and she slowly lifted her head. “You majesty… That was- that was you?”

Hajime smiled and nodded. “I chose Oikawa so I could have a chance to get you two out of there, and punish the people who did all that to you, give them what they deserve. You’re safe here, and Oikawa is too.”

At those words, Yachi completely relaxed. “I- I believe you. Thank you so much for this, your ma-”

“You won’t have to call me that, if you convince Oikawa to stay,” Hajime said kindly, now genuinely smiling. He was glad Yachi was here, and that she’d relaxed at least a little bit. It would probably take a long time to fully gain their trust, but he’d try. He had to. “Just call me Iwaizumi. That’s my name after all, and if you’re staying in the castle I don’t want you to call me majesty.”

“O- Okay, Iwaizumi-sama. I- I… Thank you,” Yachi said softly, her voice almost a whisper. Hajime figured she probably couldn’t quite believe what was happening, that it was real.

He stood up and opened the door to his room, calling for a servant. An elderly woman stepped in, and her eyes widened when they fell on Yachi’s dirty clothes and frail body. Hajime didn’t even have to ask her before she stalked into the room and helped Yachi up, inspecting her closely.

“Dear, we’ll need to get you fixed up immediately. This won’t do,” she said, gently pulling Yachi along with her. “We’ll speak of this, Iwaizumi-san!”

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Hajime said, watching their retreating backs until they rounded the corner.

Everything would be fine.


	4. Chapter 4

Hajime kept his distance when Oikawa and Yachi reunited. He didn’t want to be too present, didn’t want to seem like he thought it was all his doing that Yachi was safe now. Their reunion wasn’t big, nor tearful. When Oikawa opened the door to his room and saw Yachi, he simply stepped forward and pulled her into his chest. Yachi held him tightly in turn, and they stood there in silence for a few seconds. Then Oikawa leaned back, observing Yachi’s face and body to see if there was anything off. When he didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, he hugged her again, quickly, and pressed a kiss in her hair.

“Glad you’re safe,” Hajime overheard Yachi whisper. Oikawa smiled.

“I’m glad you’re here. Now I can rest assured that you won’t be harmed by the dickheads.”

Yachi chuckled, sounding more carefree than Hajime had heard her at any point of the previous night, which was kind of to be expected. She’d just been kidnapped from her village and brought to the king’s castle, where she met the crown prince and found out she had already spoken with him before. Hajime could imagine that being a stressful situation.

Seeing that Oikawa and Yachi would be fine now, Hajime left again. Hours later, Oikawa sat down next to him at the long table in the dining room, waiting for lunch to be served. For a few minutes, he didn’t say anything. Then he abruptly turned to Hajime.

“Thanks, Iwa-chan,” he said, so fast Hajime almost didn’t catch it. He did, though, and smiled.

“It’s okay. And could you stop calling me that.”

Oikawa threw him a quick sideway glance and grinned. “Of course not, Iwa-chan. You’re too soft to do anything about it, either way.”

Hajime chose to ignore him again. Oikawa had said the same thing the day before, and Hajime hated how he couldn’t deny it. He did slap Oikawa on the arm, though. The little squeak Oikawa made with the impact was extremely satisfying, and Hajime grinned.

“Why did you hit me, Iwa-chan? You’re such a brute!”

Hajime rolled his eyes and looked down at the silky fabric of the dress Oikawa was forced to wear. They would have to talk about that later. He wasn’t planning to make Oikawa keep pretending to be a woman, but telling his parents (and ultimately, everyone else) wouldn’t be an easy feat or something they wouldn’t have to think about. It was a pretty big issue, and they needed to think about the best way to make it known that Oikawa was, in fact, a man, and wouldn’t be marrying Hajime.

After lunch, Hajime pulled Oikawa along without a word, to the stables. There, Takahiro and Issei were waiting for him, four already saddled horses tied up behind them.

“What is this, Iwa-chan? Are you going to leave me alone here, outside?”

“Don’t whine,” Hajime said gruffly. “We’re going riding. We have some very important things we need to talk about, and you know it. Can you get on by yourself?”

“Those two are coming with us?” Oikawa asked, no malice in his voice, but a certain unease undeniably still there. Takahiro snorted.

“Disappointed, pretty boy?” Issei drawled, and Oikawa quickly shook his head, looking between Hiro, Issei and Hajime.

“They’re my best friends, Shittykawa,” Hajime said, “and I trust them with anything. They’re coming along.”

Oikawa’s eyebrows rose high on his forehead at the hidden insult in his name, and pulled an offended face. Hajime didn’t really care.

“Fine, fine, Iwa-chan. No need to get stingy. I take it you two know me already?” he said flamboyantly, turning to Issei and Hiro.

“We’ve met, yes,” Hiro scoffed. “Like, when you were knocked out and we kept you alive while Haji was fighting the bitches off.”

Oikawa looked genuinely surprised at that, and his attitude quickly mellowed, shoulders sinking. “Oh, okay. Thanks.”

“Oh, so he can be nice,” Hajime grumbled under his breath, and Oikawa squawked.

“I’m affronted that you thought I couldn’t, I’m the nicest guy I know!”

“Not very hard, with where you’re from,” Issei said, getting on his horse. “Now hurry up, I don’t feel like hurrying on the way back to be back home on time.”

Oikawa huffed one last time, but then managed to get on (dress and all) the horse. God, he was annoying. Hajime hoped he knew how to ride a horse, because otherwise this would be extremely tiring.

 

Lucky for him, Oikawa _did_ know how to ride a horse. When Takahiro asked him where he’d learnt, he’d given a vague answer about other towns, and escaping, and stolen horses. Hajime didn’t need any details to know what happened on those times. It wasn’t very hard to guess.

Hearing of little things like these made Hajime curious. Just what had Oikawa done to keep himself alive? How far had he gone? Wasn’t he traumatized? Hajime couldn’t imagine how bad his mental health would be if he’d just gotten out of a situation like Oikawa’s.

After about twenty minutes, they arrived at the lake, which was the spot Hajime, Issei and Hiro always went before they started doing the trips around the kingdom. They got off, tied the horses to trees so they could graze for a bit and sat down.

“So,” Oikawa started confidently, “what _do_ we have to talk about, Iwa-chan?”

Hajime was starting to understand how Oikawa did things. He showed people a confident, pompous attitude, and intimidated them a bit too, so they wouldn’t pry.

“You know what it is,” Hajime said. “There’s no way you’re going to be able to pretend to be a woman for the rest of your life, and I’m not going to marry you. But, I did choose you, and for a reason. Not just because I knew you. You can’t really leave now, or we’d both be in enormous trouble, so we have to figure out a way to let us both rule without you having to stay as a woman and without me having to marry someone.”

“Why are you so against marrying in the first place, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked lightly. “Are you too much of a savage to understand the concept of love?”

Hajime frowned and smacked Oikawa on the head. “Stop being an insensitive bitch. That’s a story for another time.”

Oikawa huffed, but stayed quiet. “You’re right, Iwa-chan. Partly, at least. If you say you can’t marry, I’ll believe that, but don’t think I can’t pretend to be a woman. I can do more than you think.”

“I don’t doubt that you can,” Hajime said, “I just don’t want you to. And you don’t want to, either. You’re just being stupid and proud now.”

It was silent again. “So, we have to find an alternative that’s profitable for us both and won’t make us completely miserable somewhere along the ride,” Hajime then said. “And that’s a lot harder than it sounds.”

“I think you mean the other way around,” Oikawa said airily. “If you just put your brain to use, you’d be able to come up with a solution too.”

“Too?”

Oikawa shrugged and grinned widely. “We just tell your parents there was a misunderstanding. The villagers will be sued, like you want, and we can let them think about it for a while. Then we suddenly come with the oh-so genius idea to just let you be king and then boom, we’re all happy.”

Hajime laughed loudly. He didn’t know if it was because it was a good-ish idea, or because Oikawa was stupid enough to think it’d really be that easy. The people would object. Maybe even start protesting. It was extremely against traditions, and some random man from a remote village with his ‘amazing ideas’ couldn’t just change that.

“I can see you don’t really believe or trust me, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa then said, voice softer, “but I’m good with people. I’m good at reading them, and adapting to them. How do you think Yachi and I made it until now? I know how people work, and with a bit of luck this _will_ work.”

Hajime thought it over. “I- If it doesn’t work? What’ll happen then?”

“Then we’re kind of screwed,” Oikawa said. Hajime felt himself getting angry. Oikawa didn’t have anything left to lose, while Hajime could still lose _everything_ he had and knew. He _needed_ to become king, and if the people rejected him, he had nothing.

Then Oikawa sent him a piercing look, a promise in them. “Don’t worry about this not working. I’ll make it work, whatever it takes. You’re not the only one who wants revenge. If anyone deserves the revenge, it’s me and Yachi, and I’ll do anything to get it.”

Hajime and Oikawa looked each other in the eye for a few long seconds. Then Hajime nodded almost invisibly and smiled. “Yes,” he said. “Thanks. We’ll take care of this.”

Oikawa smiled as well, and Hajime had a distinct feeling that this was a genuine smile.

 

After that afternoon, Oikawa wasn’t as hateful and resenting as he’d been before his reunion with Yachi, _or_ their talk. They still hadn’t told anyone yet, and time was ticking.

Almost a month had passed now, and Hajime could only imagine how annoying it was for Oikawa to constantly be wearing a dress. He never had, and he already knew he’d never be able to. Oikawa didn’t make much of a fuss, but Hajime had gotten to know him a bit better in the time they’d been low-key forced to spend together. He knew Oikawa didn’t like it either, but the man was extremely proud.

He refused to ask for help. He whined a lot, but Hajime didn’t always believe him. It was mostly just to be difficult. But, in the end, Oikawa never whined about the dresses and the hiding. He took it all in stride, bore with it and never _truly_ complained, even though Hajime was sure he wanted to.

They were going to tell Hajime’s parents this afternoon. At least, Hajime was planning to. Now all he had to do was convince Oikawa that that was indeed a good idea.

They had gotten a lot closer, in a sort of strange way, over the time. Hajime still insulted and hit Oikawa all the time, but never hard enough to hurt. Oikawa still fooled around and smiled fake smiles at everyone in the castle except for Takahiro, Issei and Hajime. He still called Hajime Iwa-chan and had come up with some ‘genius’ (according to Oikawa himself) nicknames for Takahiro and Issei; Makki and Mattsun. Hajime had to admit they sounded okay, but still found Iwa-chan was taking it a bit too far. It would probably stick, though.

After all, there was no changing Oikawa’s mind once he was set on something.

 

When Hajime brought it up, Oikawa looked a bit surprised in the beginning.

“We’ll need to hurry if we want to let everyone know there won’t be any marriage, before it’s too late,” Hajime had said. Oikawa was sprawled out on Hajime’s bed, wearing soft pants he sometimes took from Hajime’s closet, always whining about how they were too short and teasing that ‘Iwa-chan was such a tiny man’. At Hajime’s words, he almost fell of the bed with how much he startled.

“What are you saying, Iwa-chan? Tell who what?”

“No marriage,” Hajime said again, pushing Oikawa’s face so he wouldn’t actually fall off with one hand. “You’re not a woman, and we can’t get married. We’re not sending anyone back, so we’ll have to find a way to still let you rule with me.”

Oikawa sat up, eyes wide and question marks practically floating around him. “Huh?”

“Is it really that hard to understand, idiot?” Hajime said, turning his back to Oikawa. “I’m tired of pretending and I’m sure it’s even worse for you. Let’s just tell everyone and get it over with.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Oikawa said, the ruffling sound of the sheets indicating that Oikawa was moving. “I didn’t- I didn’t think you’d actually want to rule with me. I thought it was just… something to get me to trust you.”

Hajime looked back at Oikawa, eyebrows furrowed.

“Not anymore,” Oikawa hurried to defend himself, “just in the beginning. I- It’s kind of hard for me to trust people, sometimes, but I trust you.”

Hajime smiled. He could only imagine. He was glad he’d managed to gain Oikawa’s trust.

Now if only his parents, and the government, and the kingdom, reacted positively. He could live with Oikawa as his second ruler, probably. He was annoying, and persistent, and proud, but a good friend.

“You’re stupid,” Hajime then said. “Is that another thing the villagers told people? That I was a liar?”

Oikawa shrugged. “Not like that, they just… They didn’t believe you could genuinely care about your servants and other people below you. They thought you just wanted to trick everyone into believing that you really took good care of everyone.”

“They were probably scared,” Hajime pondered. “There have only been one king and queen since the kingdoms were united. It would be extremely easy for me to take advantage of that, or completely ruin the dynamics again, or maybe even abuse the kingdom for my own benefit. They all have different histories, and different expectations. My guess is that they were afraid I’d end up as a bad ruler and completely fuck up the kingdom again.”

Oikawa huffed out a laugh. “Of course you’d think of it like that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hajime scoffed. “They’re still assholes. Not only for speaking of me like that with no good ground or evidence, but also for doing exactly the thing they don’t want me to do.”

Oikawa looked out of the window as they both let Hajime’s words sink in on them. Oikawa’s past in the village, and before that, was still a big mystery to Hajime. They didn’t really talk about it. It was still very fresh, and Hajime didn’t want to pressure Oikawa into talking about it, he didn’t want to say something stupid, didn’t want to trigger anything for Oikawa. He had no idea what Oikawa had been through, and he’d wait until Oikawa was ready to talk about it. Even if he never was.

“C’mon, then,” he then said, standing up from the bed and motioning for Hajime to follow him. “Might as well keep this on if they’re going to know the truth.”

Hajime nodded and followed Oikawa. On the way to his parent’s quarters, where they often stayed in the afternoons to just relax for an hour together, in between the work they both had to do, Hajime felt his nerves rising.

What if this went completely wrong? What if they didn’t accept it? What if they wanted him to choose another woman, now that they still had time? What if they thought Oikawa was at fault, and they punished him?

Oikawa, probably sensing his nerves (the perceptive bastard), slapped Hajime’s shoulder and knocked on the door. “We’ll be fine. We’ll figure it out, so stop fretting, Iwa-chan,” he said teasingly, and then the door was opened by Chiyo. She threw a quick look at the pants (she probably knew they were Hajime’s, he wore them a lot since they were his most comfortable pants that were also decent enough for more formal occasions), but didn’t say anything and let them in.

Inside the quarters, Arata was sitting on a divan next to the fireplace, where no fire was burning at the moment. As the three entered the room, he looked up and smiled as he saw who they were.

“Come sit down!” he said jovially, moving aside to let Chiyo, Hajime and Oikawa sit. “Now, I’m sure you two aren’t here for nothing. What did you have to tell me? Or ask me, maybe?”

“Um- ” Hajime started hesitatingly, not really daring to look his father in the eye. That didn’t happen often, but for some reason he felt extremely bad at the moment. Like when he was a little kid, and knew he’d done something that was bad, and now needed to tell his parents what he was guilty of.

“Yes, we have something to tell you,” Oikawa then said, his voice and stance confident. Hajime, though, could hear the tremor in his voice and saw his hands were shaking a little bit. Feeling a bit more empowered, knowing that Oikawa was also nervous, he steeled himself and took the floor again.

“And it’s urgent,” he added. “You- you might not like it, but.. Well.”

Chiyo and Arata shot each other a look, and Hajime breathed deeply, waiting to see if they would say anything.

“Does it have to do with the… upcoming events?” Chiyo asked carefully. Hajime nodded, and instantly a frown grew on her face. “Haji,” she said, all care gone. She was the mother Hajime knew again; blunt, but honest, and sometimes a little bit too blunt. “I know you don’t want to do this but don’t go looking for excuses to stop it. Only tell me if it really is urgent.”

Arata looked to the side nervously, and back to Hajime. “Dear, we-”

“No, you’re right,” Hajime said, “but I am too. This _is_ an urgent matter.”

Their relationship had always been like this. Hajime was a lot like his mother when he was little, but that had only gotten worse. They were both blunt and honest, and didn’t like being careful with their words. They both liked when someone said what they thought in their faces, without sugarcoating it. They were also both a bit rough around the edges. Arata often found them screaming insults at each other, just to hug each other closely after. Hajime really loved his mom, but that was just how they worked.

His dad Arata was a bit softer. He was more careful with his words and actions, and perhaps a lot more tactical as well. More subtle, more intelligent… Hajime loved his dad as well, but he couldn’t help but be closer to his mother. They were both direct, especially to each other, and sometimes Arata tried to soothe them, but it didn’t really do much. It didn’t have to, either. They both knew how the other meant it.

“Well, what is it, then?” Arata asked, also choosing for a more direct approach this time.

Oikawa and Hajime looked at each other for a second, and almost invisibly nodded at each other.

“I think Oikawa could explain that the best,” Hajime said, and he was glad to see Oikawa nod to that. Good. He hadn’t misunderstood on their wordless agreement.

“Yeah, I won’t beat around the bush and just say it; I’m not a woman,” he simply said, and with nervous delight Hajime watched the confusion settle on his parent faces, then realization, then a little bit of anger on his mom’s and then, finally, shock.

It was silent for a long, tense minute.

“How?” his dad then said, voice breaking two times. If Hajime hadn’t been so nervous, he would’ve burst out laughing for sure. Then, Oikawa got a bit of a weird look in his eyes.

Hajime didn’t trust it.

“Oh, I can explain that for you,” he said in a lighthearted manner. “You see, boys are made the same way girls can be made. It begins with ejaculation during copulation, follows with ovulation and ends with fertilization. Well, if your little buddies succeed, at least. The man’s sperm cells contain enzymes which allow them to bore through the outer jelly coat of the woman’s egg. The sperm then fuses with the egg's membrane, the sperm head disconnects from its tiny floppy body and the egg travels down the Fallopian tube to reach the uterus. Nice, huh?”

Hajime could only watch it unravel with horror in his eyes, as Oikawa happily chatted on about fertilization and DNA, and X and Y chromosomes. He couldn’t move himself to stop him. It seemed like his parents were in the same situation as Hajime, slowly sinking back into the divan, not saying a word.

Hajime allowed himself to be relieved at that. This didn’t mean anything good yet, but at least they weren’t screaming and throwing things and kicking both Oikawa and Hajime out of the castle, or even the kingdom.

Well, it wasn’t like Oikawa gave them much of a chance to do any of that.

“-and that means the one to thank for making me a man is my dad, since his sperm held the Y chromosome my mom’s egg needed to make a boy!” Oikawa said, and then finally fell silent.

God, he’d somehow managed to make it disturbing too, with that stupidly bright and innocent grin of his.

Hajime didn’t want to believe this was what his life had come to. A man, dressed as a woman for a month long, was explaining how babies were made to his _parents._ He had no choice but to believe it anyway. As funny as this was, it was still a _situation._ And his parents still weren’t responding.

Then Chiyo finally seemed to snap out of it. “I think I’d know how babies are made, _Oikawa,_ considering I had one in me for 9 months. I don’t need you to explain it to me. Is Oikawa even your real name?”

Oikawa smiled, though a bit more nervous than earlier. “It is, but as you probably could guess yourself, I have a different first name. It’s Tooru. Oikawa Tooru.”

“And why are you telling us this now?” Arata said, putting the attention back on himself. His face was thunderous; it was like all kind cheerfulness and friendliness he normally possessed had left his body. Hajime willed the panic back. Freaking out now would do no one any good.

He didn’t know his dad like this, though.

Arata wasn’t one to get angry, and if he did he didn’t or barely showed it, opting for kindness and calmly talking about the matter instead. This version of his dad kind of scared Hajime a little bit. This was someone he had, in his 20 years of living, never seen before.

Somehow, Oikawa managed to stay more composed than Hajime felt, and started explaining their situation.

“It wasn’t my choice, I think you should know that first,” he said. “I understand that you’re quite probably very mad at me for hiding this, or maybe at Iwa-chan, but we’re both not the right person to blame. It’s not one person, really, and it involves a lot of my… well, my backstory.”

“We have some time,” Chiyo said harshly. “Explain, and don’t fuck around.”

“Okay,” Oikawa said calmly. “The people I used to live with only sent me here as a quick, easy and successful way to get rid of me. Either I got chosen and they got money for me, which happened in the end, or I didn’t get chosen, would be sent back. I don’t even want to know what they’d do with me if that had happened. The little girl who was brought in, my ‘sister’, also lived with me. I… I protected her and couldn’t leave her alone with those people. That’s why she’s here.”

Oikawa looked at his knees and smiled, a bit shyly. “I despised Iwa-chan for choosing me in the beginning, but then he brought Yachi here for me. I couldn’t be more thankful, and wanted to do something in return.”

Hajime frowned. Oikawa had never told him about that. Was that the reason he was still here, like this? Just to return a favor?

“It started like that, at least. I thought I’d humor Iwa-chan for a bit, make him hate me and give him a reason to finally let me and my case go. He was hell-bent on saving me and Yachi, after all. I thought… Sorry, Iwa-chan- but I thought he was just a prick who was too selfish to do what he had to do and was looking for an easy way out. We… We grew closer though, and I consider Iwa-chan my best friend. I’d like to help him find a way to do this, and I want to ask you to be good to him and consider his feelings in this whole happening. I don’t care how you do it, but please just _listen._ ”

To put it shortly, Hajime was stunned. He didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what to think, didn’t know what to do with himself. His mind was stuck on autopilot, just repeating Oikawa’s words over and over.

It seemed like Arata and Chiyo weren’t faring much better. “What… What do you mean?” Arata asked.

Hajime could relate to that. His dad looked at Oikawa in awe, not even a little bit angry anymore, and Hajime felt the same. Oikawa was an amazing person, and he didn’t even see it.

“I meant that I’d like for you to think about the possibility for Iwa-chan not to marry, and have him find his own way to get support in his own way of ruling,” Oikawa answered, raising his head and confidently looking Arata in the eyes. “You might not believe me, considering I lied about being a woman before, but I’m speaking the truth now. Every ruler is different, everyone has their own different way of doing and dealing with things. I don’t think it’s fair to push a certain way of doing things onto a person, who clearly doesn’t want to do it that way.”

“Who do you think you are?” Chiyo said. “For all we know, you’re some criminal who just sneaked their way in here and is now lying to everyone about all this. Why aren’t you letting Haji say anything? Why have you waited this long with telling us anything?”

Hajime could understand her worry, but it annoyed him at the same time. The way Oikawa shrunk into himself at her words rubbed him the wrong way, and he definitely didn’t like the nervous looks he shot between Hajime, his parents and the floor.

Hajime frowned and sat up straighter. “For your information, _momma,_ I don’t know if Oikawa is a criminal or not, but I know where he’s from, and I trust him.”

Oikawa’s head whipped back to Hajime’s face so fast Hajime was scared he’d break his neck, but he smiled at Oikawa and looked back at his parents. “And, you know… He’s right. I told you before. I don’t want to marry, and I can’t do it. If you would just listen and consider another way, another option for me…”

In shock, Chiyo leaned back into Arata’s chest. “Are you aware of what you’re saying here, Haji?”

Hajime nodded. “I would trust Oikawa with my life.”

Stunned, Chiyo nodded and looked away. Arata also looked away, deep in thought.

“Iwa-chan—really?” a shaky voice beside him asked, and Hajime didn’t even need to look at Oikawa to know he was getting teary-eyed.

“Really.”

“Okay then,” Arata then said, scraping his throat. “We’ll let you choose someone to stay as your right hand, we’ll alert the advisors they can stop the preparations for the wedding. You can’t get out of the coronation, but… we can- we can fix something.”

Hajime felt his heart swell, and his vision got a bit blurry. “Thank you so much,” he said, his voice breathy, and he hugged his parents tight.

“You’re definitely explaining later though,” Chiyo said when they parted, slapping at Hajime’s chest. “Don’t you even dare think you can get out of this so easily. We want to know what’s going on with our son.”

Then a bittersweet smile grew on her face as she cupped Hajime’s cheek. “You’ve grown up so fast,” she said softly, and Hajime’s vision only got more blurred. He decided he didn’t care the least bit.

“I mean, look at you,” she continued, choking out a short laugh. “You’re taller than me, and going off on adventures by yourself, making great friends like him, making your own decisions… You’re about to become _king_ soon. Where did the time go?”

Hajime leaned down to rest their foreheads together as he wrapped his arms around her once more. “How do you know about the trips?” he sniffed.

“I’m not stupid,” she said, failing at hiding her own sniffles. “Your dad did exactly the same when we first met, only he _did_ take guards with him.”

“Oh,” was all Hajime replied before they were both sobbing quietly, holding onto each other.

“Are they… always like this?” he heard Oikawa say quietly behind him, but he chose to ignore him.

“Worse, sometimes,” his dad replied airily. “They’re way too much alike.”

Chiyo slapped back at Arata blindly, hitting his neck, and she immediately dove back into Hajime’s tight embrace when she heard the pained yelp. Hajime smiled.

“I’m not letting you off this easily, either,” Arata said to Oikawa, “but you’ve obviously been the one to get Haji to admit this stuff, even if you were the one who did it for him. I’m guessing Hiro and Issei already know?”

“I- yes, they do,” Oikawa said. “On the- the trip Iwa-chan made… They were also there. We met there.”

“I’m not surprised,” Arata said, “those three never did anything without the other anyway. There was no way they’d let Hajime go on his own.”

“I… Yeah, they kind of saved me back then,” Oikawa added. “I never did, but.. I have a lot to thank them for.”

“I definitely want to hear about that past of yours later, son,” Arata said airily. Hajime moved away from Chiyo, wiped his tears, and patted Oikawa on the back. The latter only had a look of shock on his face. Hajime chuckled. His dad probably had no idea what he’d just said, and how much that meant to Oikawa. It made Hajime happy. Even if he didn’t choose Oikawa to be his right-hand man, he wanted Oikawa to know he was always welcome in his family.

Not that he wouldn’t choose Oikawa. Hajime’s mind had been made up on that about a week ago.

Oikawa wasn’t only good (though sometimes somewhat annoying) company, and though he’d known Hiro and Issei for much longer, he considered Oikawa as one of his best friends as well. They’d grown close _fast,_ and they’d even made a trip to a town, which they usually did with the three of them, with Oikawa.

Oikawa was also everything Hajime would’ve looked for in a woman, had he not been aromantic and asexual. He was quirky, and loud, and fake, but he trusted Hajime, Issei and Hiro and that was visible. Around them, he was less of the ‘perfect’ person he always pretended to be, and more of a sweet, emotional and uncontrollable mess, while also being intimidating, and cunning, and definitely not someone you’d want to have as your enemy.

Oikawa was good with words, and he knew how people and the way they thought worked. He knew how to get people to do what he wanted, how to convey his point, how to fight back against people who spoke badly of him.

He was hardworking, and passionate about things that interested him, and Hajime had seen him work on a drawing (which he was absurdly good at, by the way) for hours and hours on end with terrifying concentration.

Oikawa levelled Hajime out perfectly, and filled Hajime’s gaps.

That was something he’d tell his parents later, though. For now, what they’d told them was enough. Hajime would wait until Oikawa trusted him enough to tell him about his past until they told his parents more. Hajime doubted they’d be able to handle more shocking things at the moment, after the bomb they’d just dropped on them.

 

***

“I know you’re curious about my past, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said one night, about two weeks later before moving to his own room. He’d stopped wearing dresses, and Hajime had to listen to him whine about the dresses for a week. He still didn’t understand why Oikawa started whining _after_ he wore them, instead of while they were still his disguise.

“I know you want to know more,” he said, “and I want to tell you, but not now. It’s… it’s a bit too fresh for that. But I’ll tell you soon, I promise.”

“That’s fine,” Hajime said sleepily. “I have to explain some things, as well. We’ll do it together. Wait as long as you need.”

Almost half a minute, when Hajime thought Oikawa had already left the room, he heard a deep breath and a low sigh.

“Iwa-chan?”

Hajime mumbled something unintelligible.

“I… Thank you.” Then the sound of the door falling shut reached his ears, and Hajime fell asleep with a smile on his face.

***

The wedding had been officially cancelled, and they hadn’t had any negative responses yet. A few, from advisors who worried about who would rule, but none of the people in the kingdom. Hajime couldn’t be more relieved, but he couldn’t let himself relax too much. He still needed to find a proper alternative solution, and he only had two months left. He had a few ideas, but didn’t know if the people would approve of that.

Oikawa hadn’t asked about why he didn’t want to marry again. Hajime hadn’t asked about his past again.

It wasn’t that they both weren’t curious anymore. They still were. At least, Hajime was. They just knew now that they were friends, they trusted each other, they had a brighter future now. They knew the other would explain it when he thought it was time to do so.

In the evening, Oikawa was often in Hajime’s room, most of those times also with Hiro and Issei. (Oikawa still refused to call them by their first names, and insisted on calling them Mattsun and Makki. Same with Hajime. He couldn’t get Oikawa to stop calling him Iwa-chan, and he’d given up the fight. Oikawa wouldn’t listen anyway.)

One evening, Hiro and Issei had left early. “For some nice and friendly alone time, Haji,” Takahiro had said with an overexaggerated wink. Issei slapped Hiro’s ass, and Hajime scrunched his nose in disgust.

“Too much information,” he groaned, and Oikawa laughed.

“Have fun,” Oikawa called after them in a singsongy voice.

“Will do,” Issei called over his shoulder, and then Hajime and Oikawa were left alone.

“Disgusting,” Hajime grumbled, stretching out on his bed, fully making use of the space Issei and Hiro had vacated.

“That’s love, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa replied, spinning a bit on the chair. “But you wouldn’t get that, with your caveman-like incapability of feeling and expressing love.”

Hajime grunted. Now was as good a time as any.

“Yeah, you’re kinda right on that,” he said. “The no love thing, at least. I’m not a caveman.”

Oikawa lifted his head from where he’d been leaning back in the chair (the idiot was going to fall over if he kept that up), making a small confused sounding noise. Hajime laughed. Oikawa’s hair was ruffled and floppy, and confusion was written all over his face.

“What, are you finally acknowledging it?” he asked, placating a teasing grin on his face.

“No, you bastard,” Hajime said, voice softer than his words. “I don’t feel romantic love for people. Or physical attraction. That’s why I didn’t want to marry anyone.”

Immediately, the teasing air was gone and Oikawa pulled a serious face, leaning forwards to Hajime. “Wait, what does that mean? How does that work?”

Hajime hummed a tune to himself, turning his head to look at the ceiling, thinking about the best way to explain it. “I’m not sure how it works, I just… I just don’t get that. With liking people romantically, and the whole… the whole sexual activity thing. It’s not for me. I don’t feel it, I don’t want it.” He hesitated for a second. Was there a better way to explain it? “I- No, that’s it. I guess.”

Oikawa looked out of the window, obviously far off and lost in his own thoughts. Hajime let him be, let him process this for a bit. It was, after all, the secret Hajime had been keeping from Oikawa.

“So… You can’t fall in love with people?” Oikawa asked after a minute. Hajime shook his head, trusting that Oikawa saw it.

“It’s not that I can’t feel love at all. I love some people. It’s just romantical love that I don’t feel.”

“And physical or sexual attraction?”

“Nope,” Hajime answered airily. Oikawa hummed an unintelligible response.

“I think,” Oikawa started after a few minutes, staring at the wall next to the window, “I think I can’t really have that either. I love a lot of things but I don’t think I could… _trust_ someone enough to be in a relationship with them.”

“Not even me?” Hajime  said jokingly.

Oikawa singled him an exasperated look, and Hajime smiled sheepishly.

“No, you idiot. I don’t love you like that. I just meant that if I ever found someone I loved, I don’t think I would be able to fully trust them with everything I have. It’s hard to explain.”

Hajime nodded. “All jokes aside, that’s the reason why I was so against marrying someone. I meant to tell you sooner since it’s not really a big, shocking secret, but I couldn’t really find a good moment.”

Oikawa nodded. “I think I get it now,” he said. “I think… I think I’m kind of the same? Not exactly, but I don’t think I can do either of those.  Not because I don’t feel it but because I can’t surrender myself to those feelings. I don’t like talking about it like this, but I think it’s safe to say I’ve been pretty… traumatized.”

Hajime met Oikawa’s eyes as he looked back in Hajime’s direction, and they had a sad glint over them. Was..

“You don’t have to tell me about your past if it’s too much,” Hajime said.

Oikawa shook his head. “No, you told me about you too. It’s only fair I tell something about me as well.”

“But my thing is nowhere near as painful and bad as your things, stupid,” Hajime said gruffly. “And that’s a shit reason. I didn’t tell you about me just to get you to talk as well. I didn’t tell you to explain your past to me when you felt you were ready for nothing. If it hurts to talk about it now, we’re not talking about it.”

Oikawa smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Hajime wanted to punch it off his face. Why was he pretending it didn’t matter? Hajime of course didn’t know what had happened, but he had no doubts that all of it was equally traumatizing and painful, and he could only imagine how confronting it must be for Oikawa to recall it. It was only a few months ago that he was still stuck in that village, it must still be on Oikawa’s mind.

Hajime thought he could compare it to a raw, fresh wound. He didn’t want to be the one to open it again. Who knew what would happen? For all he knew dirt could get in the wound, it could get infected. Maybe it’d bleed so badly Oikawa couldn’t repair it in time again.

“It’s fine, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said, “I want to tell you.”

“But you’re not ready, Shittykawa. I don’t want to hear anything today.”

The grateful smile that grew on Oikawa’s face told Hajime more than any word ever could.

***

“How have you been doing? I haven’t seen you for a good two weeks,” Hajime said goodnaturedly. The blond girl, to Hajime’s satisfaction, didn’t jump too bad when she saw it was Hajime who was talking to her.

“Oh, Iwaizumi-sama!” Yachi replied, a smile instantly on her face.

“I told you to call me Iwaizumi, right?” Hajime said.

Yachi nodded and looked from side to side. “You- you did, but I can’t just call you that, right? You’re going to be the king and older than me, I could never drop the honorifics! That would be too rude, and someone could hear and they’d hate me forever!”

Hajime laughed. “I’m sure that won’t happen, but if you prefer to call me that, that’s okay. It’s up to you. But, that’s not what I came here for. How have you been doing, do you like the castle so far? I meant to ask you earlier, but I couldn’t find the time, or you.”

“I’m doing great, Iwaizumi-sama. Thank you so much again for letting me stay! The castle is beautiful and the people are so nice to me. Fuji-san has been teaching me some things in the kitchen so I can make myself more useful, she’s been really good to me!”

Hajime hummed. “And a good cook, too. If you learn to cook just like her I’m not sure I can every let you leave the castle.” Then he laughed. “I’m glad you’re doing well. It must’ve been tough to adjust in the beginning.”

Yachi smiled shyly. “A- a little bit, yes.” Her eyes widened and she scrambled to correct herself. “Not- not that everything here isn’t great, not at all! Everyone has been helping me a lot and I couldn’t be more thankful for all you’ve given me and Tooru-nii. I really don’t know how to repay you.”

“Calm down, Yachi, it’s okay. I wouldn’t blame you if you said it was hard in the beginning, and I wouldn’t have blamed you either if you didn’t like it here. I’m glad you do, though,” Hajime said. “Oikawa hasn’t told me much yet, but I have the impression that your lives before were… really tough.”

Yachi nodded and looked to the side “I think so too. But, Tooru-nii always made sure it wasn’t as hard for me. It was always tougher on him, because he took everything on his own shoulders. He did all the work, I don’t… I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened to me if he wasn’t always there for me.” A sad look came in her eyes. “I sometimes wish I could’ve been there for him more, too. He… yeah, I sometimes think about that.”

“I didn’t mean to make you sad,” Hajime said. “I’m sorry.”

“That’s fine,” Yachi replied. “It’s behind me now. Wishing won’t get me anywhere.”

Every time Hajime spoke with Yachi, he was baffled by her again. She had recently turned fourteen. She was still so young, but had seen so much and was so mature already.

Then he suddenly remembered something. “Oh, right! I meant to tell you this. The wedding has officially been called off, and we’ve been thinking of an alternative solution. I decided I want Oikawa as my right hand man, so that means that if he agrees, he’ll continue to live in the castle. I recommend you to stay as well, but it’s your choice. Do you want to keep living here?”

Yachi beamed and nodded her head. “Yes! Oh, that would be amazing!” Then her expression grew more panicked. “I couldn’t do that without offering some payment, though. I can’t stay without giving or doing anything in return!”

Hajime chuckled. “I offered, of course you can. You’re with Oikawa, I couldn’t ask you to pay anything to stay. Plus, not to be rude, but where would you get the money?”

“Please tell me something I can do to pay you back,” Yachi said insistently. “I wouldn’t feel good if I was staying here without doing anything useful.”

Hajime hesitated. Yachi really was a good person, and he wanted nothing more than to just give her a place to stay, but he’d also come to know her a bit over the months. “Okay,” he said. “You said Fuji-san sometimes takes you with her, right?”

Yachi nodded. “She lets me help in the kitchen, I’ve baked a few things with her already. Was that… was that not okay?”

“The contrary, actually,” Hajime said. “Do you like working in the kitchen?”

Yachi nodded again. “I like cooking, and I like learning new things. Fuji-san is a good teacher.”

“Then how about you become a servant as payment? You wouldn’t be restricted to stay here, like the other servants are, but you could work in the kitchens and get some lessons. You’d also receive some money, of course, just like the other servants. Would that be better?”

Yachi’s face brightened, the smile almost splitting her face in two. “Iwaizumi-sama, thank you so much! That would be amazing.”

“Alright, then that’s a deal! I’ll take care of the details, and you can just keep helping Fuji-san,” Hajime said, Yachi’s smile too contagious. He couldn’t help but smile as well.

Yachi was like a little ray of sunshine, Hajime thought as she walked off, her steps light. It was undeniable. He’d seen the way servants smiled when she greeted them, smile always on her face, given to everyone in her near vicinity. The servants were happy with how they lived, Hajime knew that, but Yachi had managed to brighten everything up even further for them. And that after all she’d had to endure.

She was truly an amazing person. Oikawa was too, but Hajime liked admitting that a whole lot less.

***

“I want you to become my right hand man,” was the first thing Hajime told Oikawa the next morning.

“What?” Oikawa slurred, a piece of toast hanging out of his mouth and his hair a huge mess. In the beginning, Oikawa had been very nitpicky and perfectionistic about his appearance, always wanting to look his best. Now, he would show up at breakfast every day with the most gruesome bedhead Hajime had ever seen. Even his own wasn’t that bad. Oikawa didn’t care about that around Hajime, Issei and Hiro anymore. It made Hajime happy, to know Oikawa trusted all three of them enough to show them his true self.

“I want you to become my right hand man,” Hajime repeated, “for when I become king.”

If anyone said Hajime laughed so hard he was snorting when Oikawa’s eyes widened so much his eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets and he spit out his bite of toast over his pants (whining endlessly about the stain afterwards), he’d deny it.

He did laugh very hard, though. It was a pretty serious matter, but the look on Oikawa’s face was just too good.

“What?” Oikawa said, his voice shrill and high. “Are you- why would you say it like _that?_ ”

It took Hajime a good minute to calm down, but then he managed to say, “What do you mean?”

Oikawa spluttered for a bit, flailing his arms, still holding his half-eaten toast. “What do you mean?” he then said, sounding outraged. It took everything in Hajime’s power to not burst out laughing again. “What do you _mean?_ Oh my god, Iwa-chan, you have no tact _at all!_ Why and how did you decide it was a good idea to say that sort of thing at breakfast, when I’m still half asleep and unprepared? And why did you think it was a good idea to just say that completely out of the blue? I was unprepared, Iwa’-chan, _unprepared!_ You can’t do this to me so early in the morning, Iwa-chan. Oh my god.”

“Sorry,” Hajime said, still breathing heavily from his laughing fit.  “I’m sorry for springing that on you. What’s your answer?”

Oikawa shook his head with a disapproving look. He tutted a few times. “You’re incorrigible, Iwa-chan. I can’t handle this. Why are you like this? Of course I’ll be your right hand man, who do you think I am?”

“You won’t have to be king, exactly, just… Help me rule. Make sure I don’t make stupid decisions.”

“I already said yes, Iwa-chan. And don’t worry, I make the _best d_ ecisions!”

Hajime chuckled and looked away. “I think I’ll choose someone else, now that I think about it. I can’t trust you to keep me in control when it’s me keeping _you_ in control all the time.”

“Rude, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said, “you know that’s a lie. I can take care of myself.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I’m just not too sure if you’d be able to also take care of _me,_ ” Hajime teased.

Oikawa scoffed and lightly puffed out his chest. “I’ll be the best damn right hand man you’ve ever seen, Iwa-chan. Watch me beat you. I’ll kick you right off that stupid throne of yours. I’ll win, just wait and see!”

Hajime snickered. “Of course,” he said, voice then turning softer. “Thank you.”

“With pleasure, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said. “I’d do anything to assist my future king, after all. It helps a little bit that you’re not completely insufferable.”

“Yeah, right back at you,” Hajime said, stuffing a piece of toast in his mouth. “Though you don’t have much of a choice. Yachi already decided she’s staying here as a kitchen servant, and you wouldn’t want to leave her alone here, would you?”

“You bastard,” Oikawa sniffed. “I take everything back. I hate you, you slimy bastard Iwa-chan. I’ll get you.”

“You don’t mean that,” Hajime said. “You don’t hate me and you know it.”

Oikawa didn’t hesitate for a second as he smiled (a real, genuine smile) at Hajime and nodded. “Yeah, can’t deny that. I love being your friend, Iwa-chan! It’s given me such a nice home, and you’re earning me a nice title and some good money soon as well.”

Hajime instantly landed a good hit on the back of Oikawa’s head. “You’re such a shitty guy.”

“That hurt, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa laughed, “you seriously don’t know your own strength, do you? You might just knock my head straight off my torso!”

“That’s disgusting,” Hajime said, but he couldn’t help but laugh a little as well. “You asshole.”

"If anyone here is an asshole, it has to be you," Oikawa scoffed, but Hajime saw he was softening again. He knew Oikawa liked to pretend he was all that, but on the inside he was just a mushy, sweet, slightly vain young man.

"You dare give me that when I just offered you something amazing? You know I could've easily picked anyone else, right?"

Oikawa smiled again. "Yeah, I know. Thank you so much for the opportunity, Iwa-chan. Thank you for trusting me."

Slightly baffled at the genuineness of Oikawa's response, he could only smile and smack Oikawa again. He ignored the squeaky "Ow, Iwa-chan!" that came from Oikawa.

He was suddenly struck with a feeling that everything would be okay. They would be fine. 

 

Two months later, at the coronation, there was no woman at the altar he had to pick up. There was no forced marriage, there was no unhappy future. Instead, Oikawa stood behind him as the silent supporter he would be for Hajime in the future. There was little Yachi, standing nearby with the servants, a big smile on her face. Takahiro and Issei were clapping, proud looks on their faces. His parents may or may not be crying. Hajime wouldn't rat them out.

At this moment, Hajime's present was bright, and with the way Oikawa whispered "Love you, Iwa-chan. Kick some ass," into his ear before he stepped forward to do his pledges, he was sure the future was going to be even brighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the end.
> 
> please note that (since i only barely made it) i bullshitted all of this in one month's time (because my stupid ass started a month late) and this is not edited.  
> i might make a romantic alternate ending in the future, comment if you'd like that?! and also maybe what happened in those two months with like oikawa's past and village and shit
> 
> this was a wild ride, please leave kudos or a comment if you liked it!


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